Qatar’s Al Duhail are staying confident ahead of their 2020 AFC Champions League Group C second-round match against Saudi Arabia’s Al Taawoun on Tuesday, 18th February. The kick-off is at 18:35 Doha time at the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Buraidah.

Iran’s Persepolis and the UAE’s Sharjah are the other teams in the group.

Al Duhail are currently leading the 2019-20 QNB Stars League table with 33 points, but are having a roller-coaster ride of late.

They lost to Al Sadd by a 0-4 margin in the 2020 Qatar Cup final recently and, subsequently, a change at the helm happened, with Moroccan Walid Regragui replacing Portuguese Rui Faria.

The Red Knights then lost their record of being unbeaten in this season’s QNB Stars League when they suffered a 0-1 defeat at the hands of Al Rayyan in Week 14.

Al Duhail also failed to progress past the group stage in the Ooredoo Cup even though they reached the Amir Cup quarterfinals by beating Muaither 4-0 recently.

However, they made a strong start to their new continental campaign by defeating Persepolis 2-0 in Doha with goals from Mario Mandzukic and Edmilson.

Al Duhail also have in their ranks players such as Mehdi Benatia, Almoez Ali, Assim Madibo, Karim Boudiaf, Luis Martin and Ahmed Yasser.

Qatar’s other representative in Asia’s premier club competition Al Sadd are in Group D alongside the UAE’s Al Ain, Iran’s Sepahan and Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr.

Qatar’s Al Rayyan and Al Sailiya had failed to book their berths in the tournament proper after losing in play-offs to Iran’s Esteghlal and Shahr Khodro respectively.