FC Goa will be desperate to get their maiden win in their debut AFC Champions League campaign.
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FC Goa will play their second-last match of their AFC Champions League group stage against Al-Rayyan on Monday night at the Fatorda stadium. The Gaurs are currently placed third in Group E with 2 points from four games. Juan Ferrando’s side was thrashed 4-0 in their previous game against Iranian side Persepolis on Friday. The previous encounter between these two teams ended in a goalless draw on April 14th. The Qatari side is at the bottom of the group with one point from four games.
FC Goa started their maiden AFC Champions League group stage campaign with two impressive goalless draw against Al- Rayyan and Al-Wahda, but then lost two consecutive matches against Persepolis FC. Persepolis beat the Indian club 2-1 on April 20 and three days later 4-0 in the return fixture. Goa got their first and only goal in Asia’s premier club competition courtesy of an Edu Bedia header against Persepolis.
Juan Ferrando rested many of its main players in the previous game because of injuries and fatigue. This will be their fifth game in 12 days.
Dheeraj Singh, Brandon Fernandes, Adil Khan, Glan Martins, Jorge Ortiz, Seriton Fernandes are expected to return to the starting XI after being rested in the previous game.
Dheeraj Singh had an exceptional campaign between the post’s, with two clean sheets in three appearances for FC Goa.
Brandon Fernandes provided the assist to Edu Bedia in their maiden goal of the Competition. Glan and Ortiz have been impressive with their work rate in the middle and up front respectively.
Al-Rayyan had lost all their matches since their goalless draw against Goa in the first game of the campaign. The Qatari side are out of the race for qualification to next round.
The Laurent Blanc-coached side lost 1-0 against Al-Wahda in its previous game and will be playing for pride.
Goa’s chance’s of qualifying for the round of 16 is slim. The Indian club will be desperate to get something from their debut ACL campaign.
If they could repeat their gritty performance as in their first two games with a bit more quality in attack, they could finish the campaign on a high.
Two wins in the remaining two games will take them to 8 points and depending on Al-Wahda’s remaining result’s, they could finish as high as second in the group.
