Al Ahli boss Cosmin Olaroiu will not be looking to make any last-minute signings to find a replacement for Ciel, who will be out for six months with a broken ankle, and says that such setbacks will only make the team stronger.
The Arabian Gulf League champions were dealt a heavy blow during their season opener against Sharjah last week when their star Brazilian forward rolled over his ankle in a clash with Shahin Abdulrahman, resulting in the sending off of the Sharjah defender.
Ciel underwent surgery last Wednesday and with him set to miss a large chunk of the season, Ahli have re-registered Portuguese midfielder Hugo Viana as their fourth foreign player.
This is the second straight season a key Ahli player has picked up a major injury early on. Last year, goalkeeper Majed Nasser was also sidelined for a lengthy spell with an ankle problem.
"We’ve experienced similar circumstances in our previous season with an early injury blow and the season before that, I had the same thing with Omar Abdulrahman in Al Ain," Olaroiu told reporters.
"It’s becoming a bit of a tradition now, starting every season with an injury.
"But these things make us stronger, makes us more responsible and more united and forces us to be even more serious in each game."
Olaroiu admits Ciel’s absence will have a major effect on the team but he ruled out any extreme measures to bring in a replacement.
"I wouldn’t say we will be replacing Ciel per se, we will simply make use all our available players," he added.
"We might think about reworking our tactics a bit and in all cases we have Hugo Viana with us and we will use him whenever needed."
Ahli haven’t been too active in the transfer window but Olaroiu was pleased with how his three new signings Habib Fardan, Mirel Radoi and Nawaf Mubarak performed in their 1-0 win over Sharjah in the first round.
"Radoi and Fardan had a great start with us. Looking at the stats from our previous game, we could see that both of them covered the most ground and had the most touches on the ball. Nawaf played less in the Sharjah game because he is still going through a fitness programme and we hope he’ll be ready for us soon."
