ACL QF 2ND LEG PREVIEW: AL HILAL

Doha: Georgios Donis has called on his Al Hilal team to maintain their focus when they take on Lekhwiya in the second leg of their AFC Champions League quarter-final meeting on Tuesday, despite the Saudi Arabian side holding a healthy advantage from the first leg.

The two-time Asian champions and last year’s beaten finalists take a 4-1 lead into the second leg after an impressive performance at the King Fahd International Stadium ensured the Riyadh-based club would be favourites going into the second leg.

But, despite the large margin between the teams, Al Hilal’s Greek coach has warned his team against complacency as they seek another trip to the semi-finals of the competition.

“We want to consolidate our win in the first leg, which was really important,” he said. “We got a big win in the first leg but this doesn’t mean that our task will be easy tomorrow because our opponents will be looking to make a good comeback and take advantage of the match to achieve a good result.”

Al Hilal 4-1 Lekhwiya
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Lekhwiya more than matched Al Hilal for the opening half an hour of the game in Riyadh when Youssef Msakni scored in the 17th minute to cancel out Ailton’s 11th minute opener.

But the Saudis put their visitors under pressure in the late stages of the first half when goals from Carlos Eduardo and Khaled Al Kaebi gave Al Hilal a 3-1 lead going into the break.

Lekhwiya’s task was made even more difficult four minutes from time when Carlos Eduardo struck from close range to claim his second of the night and his side’s fourth, leaving the Qatar Stars League champions with an uphill challenge.

Despite the gap between the teams, though, Donis (pictured) has warned his team to be fully focused.

“We should be playing with big concentration and we have prepared well for the match,” said the 45-year-old, who has led Al Hilal to back-to-back victories in their first two matches of the 2015/15 Abul Latif Jameel Saudi Professional League.

“The players are determined to achieve a good result because we want to move further in the competition and reach to the final.”