Sharjah 24: Nicola Catalan, Cosmin assistant coach of the Sharjah team, confirmed that the team prepared well to face Al Ain in the seventeenth round of the ADNOC Professional League, on Saturday, at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, expecting the match to be difficult for both sides.

Catalan, who attended the press conference in place of coach Cosmin due to his suspension by the Disciplinary Committee, said that the match was the team's first after a period of international hiatus, which witnessed the team's preparations to return to competitions again.

He added that it is known very well how difficult the match is against Al Ain, maintaining that they are a strong team, and expecting a big match against them.

He continued that there is always a great rivalry in the matches of Sharjah and Al Ain, and they are usually balanced and the results are close, stressing that many matches in the recent period demonstrated rivalry, and that victory will be for whoever succeeds in controlling the match.

He stated that Al Ain is always a difficult opponent on its home field with a distinguished audience, and Sharjah seeks to present a beautiful and enjoyable match, and this is the most important thing.

Regarding the impact of the pause period on the Al Ain team, he said that he care more about the condition of the team, and believe that the pause period has helped in restoring the efforts of some injured players and Sharjah recovered a number of players.

He highlighted that it is important how the team will be during the match and how the team will perform to achieve a positive result.

For his part, Sharjah defender Khaled Al Dhanhani stressed the difficulty of the match and said that he expects a strong match between two big teams, regardless of the two teams’ ranking in the league. 

He added that the team seeks to present a big match, proving first that the team is capable of playing big and entertaining the audience, and that the players are 100 percent ready for the match.