Al Duhail face Saudi Arabian side Al Shabab in the quarterfinal of AFC Champions League 2022 (West Zone). The kick-off is at 18:00 at the Al Thumama Stadium on Thursday, February 23, 2023.

This will be the first game between Al Duhail and Al Shabab in the AFC Champions League.

This is Al Duhail’s 11th participation in the AFC Champions League and their most prominent achievement in it was reaching the quarterfinals three times (2013, 2015 and 2018).

Al Duhail are looking to reach the semifinals for the first time in their history. The Red Knights will also have an eye on the final against Japan’s Urawa, who made it to the title clash from the East Zone.

Al Duhail were the first to qualify for the quarterfinals from the West Zone when they beat city rivals Al Rayyan 7-6 on penalties, after the teams were tied 0-0 at the end of regular time and 1-1 at the end of extra time at the same venue last Sunday.

Al Shabab reached the quarterfinals for the fourth time in their history by beating FC Nasaf of Uzbekistan with a 2-0 margin.

They will be looking forward to repeat the experience of 2010 when they made it to the semifinals, where they lost out to eventual champions Seongnam of South Korea .

It may be noted that the AFC Champions League 2022 final will be played on a home-and-away basis on April 29 and May 6, 2023.

Al Duhail’s Argentinian coach Hernan Crespo realizes that the task will not be easy against Al Shabab, who have a strong attack. That was evident during their Round of 16 match against FC Nasaf.

Both Al Duhail and Al Shabab are in similar circumstances as they are competing for the domestic league title. Al Duhail lead the QNB Stars League standings with 32 points, one point more than Al Arabi with a postponed match against Al Rayyan in hand.

Al Shabab share the same number of points (40) on top of the Saudi Pro League standings along with Al Nassr and Al Ittihad.

Crespo may be counting on the likes of Paulo Edmilson Junior, Michael Olunga, Nam Tae-Hee, Almoez Ali, Ismail Mohammed and goalkeeper Salah Zakaria, who played a major role against Al Rayyan in the Round of 16, where he saved the penalty kick taken by Mowafak Awad to send Al Duhail to the quarterfinals.

Foolad Khouzestan of Iran face Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia in the other quarterfinal (West Zone) at the Al Janoub Stadium in Doha, also on Thursday. The kick-off is at 21:00.