‘We beat Esteghlal at their own game’ – Metsu

MEF - French manager Bruno Metsu believes Al-Ain managed to overcome Esteghlal after dictating their very own game to the Iranian opposition, in the aftermath of the resounding 3-1 victory tonight.

“Esteghlal showed they are excellent in counter-attacks in their opening 2 fixtures here in the tournament. We relied heavily on the very same approach after the equalizing goal and managed to score twice, and deservedly won the game,” he stated.


Al-Ain, who forced their way to the semi-finals stage of the Asian Champions’ League quite easily after topping Group C following 3 successive wins over Al-Hilal 1-0, Al-Sadd 2-0 and Esteghlal 3-1, are now gearing up themselves to take on Chinese outfits Dalian, Group B ultimate winners.

“Frankly speaking, I didn’t expect scoring 3 goals after the interval; still, our all-round assessment of the opposition prior to the game itself paid off at the end of the day,” added a euphoric Metsu.

“We emerged as the tournament’s most complete and competitive side, winning all 3 games, boasting the best attacking line and conceding just one goal – now it’s up for us to find the winning formula again next April against Dalian of China,”