AFC Champions League: Lamouchi praises Olunga and Co. after ‘crazy’ Esteghlal FC draw

Al-Duhail SC head coach Sabri Lamouchi has praised Michael Olunga and his teammates for what he described as a "crazy" AFC Champions League game against Esteghlal FC on Saturday.

Olunga scored twice to ensure the Qatari side fought from going behind and eventually shared the points in a 2-2 draw. Lamouchi, in his post-match conference, explained why he thinks the encounter was crazy.

“Another match which I call crazy,” Lamouchi said. “It might not have been like the previous one in terms of chances and goals but it was a big and exciting match.

“We controlled the match very well and after we took the lead, I thought that we were going to get the three points. However, we made mistakes and this happens in football.”

“The players were tired and we saw fatigue showing at the end of the match. Four matches in 10 days require a lot of effort management under this physical pressure.”

The draw means Al-Duhail are unbeaten after four matches and are at the top of Group C with eight points, while Esteghlal and Al-Duhail have seven.

“We should be happy now that there is big competition between three teams in the group. Al Ahli managed to reduce the deficit so we should see interesting matches in the last two rounds,” Lamouchi said with respect to the competition in their group.

Olunga, who scored the first Al-Duail hattrick in the competition against the same opponents on matchday three, will be expected to maintain top form when they will face Iraq’s Al Shorta while Esteghlal will clash with Al Ahli on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Esteghlal FC assistant coach Farshad Majedi lauded his players for maintaining dedication against a strong team.

“Our players played with dedication. Due to the short period between matches, quality drops and injuries become more likely,” Majedi stated.

“Al Duhail are a strong team, they have international experience and they are having good results. I believe we played against the best team in the group.

“We lost some players due to injuries, including Cheick Diabate who had to leave the match, and we played with 10 men at the end.

“We made several changes to the plan because of this. In the end, we got one point although we were hoping to get three.”

Al-Duhail won by the reverse fixture 4-3.