Record buy Moussa Sow must fight for his spot in the resurgent Al Ahli starting line-up like any other player, warns boss Cosmin Olaroiu.
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The Red Knights return to Arabian Gulf League-duty tonight when winless Al Dhafra travel to Rashid Stadium. This follows on from Wednesday’s historic progression past Naft Tehran and into the AFC Champions League semi-finals.
This fixture marks the first time Olaroiu will have all his fearsome attacking resources available with €17m (Dh70m) forward Sow eset to make his top-flight bow.
Such a move could see UAE internationals Ahmed Khalil or Habib Fardan drop to the substitutes’ bench, but the Romanian insists there is no guarantee he will break up a winning team which began their top-flight campaign with an 8-1 routing of Fujairah.
He said: “Sow is available, he will join the team. Like all the players, he has to win his place in the team.
“He will have a chance, but he will have to win his place. I prefer it to be difficult rather than have no options.”
Sow has already featured once for his new club since this month’s landmark move from Fenerbahce, playing 90 minutes in the 1-1 Arabian Gulf Cup-draw at Al Shaab. He is ineligible for the 2015 ACL.
The selection headaches continue at the back for Ahli, controversial No1 Majed Nasser still being kept out of his club side by excellent understudy Ahmed Dida.
“Dida has done very well since the moment Majed was suspended [for six games in the ACL],” Olaroiu said. “Majed is a very good goalkeeper, he has to preparing to be at the same level as Dida.”
REPORT: @AlAhliClub march into @TheAFCCL semi-finals with 3-1 victory @mattmonaghan360 http://t.co/odmRI6OGNr pic.twitter.com/1wTOiTRFS3
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The Red Knights endured an awful title defence last term, dropping to seventh.
Olaroiu wanted his troops to “find the right motivation” for the upcoming game. He said: “Al Dhafra didn’t start the season very well, but they are still a difficult team. We need to find the right motivation and forget qualification.”
Dhafra have recorded 3-1 topflight losses to champions Al Ain and Al Nasr this term. But coach Laurent Banide was confident success is near. He said: “The team is evolving from game to game. The results of the team will be better in the next matches.”
