Al Duhail Head Coach Hernan Crespo expressed his sadness after the loss that the team suffered this evening versus the Iranian team Persepolis with a clean goal in the second round of the group stage of the AFC Champions League. The coach said in the post match press conference: I apologize for the result we got today. The team did not play well and the result was not in our favor. We need to pause in order to get our players back, as we have missed many players since the beginning of the season.

Crespo added: We played a bad match today versus Persepolis and the team has many problems, and since the beginning of the season the team has not been complete in any training. We are still looking for solutions in light of the challenges we face and the AFC Champions League fixtures do not give us enough time for this matter.

Crespo continued: My goal and the goal of the team has always been to participate in this tournament, but now our squad is not complete and we still have 4 matches and we can advance from this group, but the task has become difficult, and these matches require everyone to provide their best.