Hassan Khalifa, the coach of Al-Ittihad team, confirmed his satisfaction with the fighting spirit shown by his players despite the loss to Al-Ahly of the UAE by one goal to nil, on Tuesday evening, in the second round of the group stage of the AFC Champions League for elites.

Khalifa said in the press conference after the match: "In the first half, we played slow football, but in the second half, the performance improved noticeably, and the substitutes showed fighting spirit and intensity in play."

He added: "We included Ahmed Al-Ghamdi as a right-back to increase offensive effectiveness, while Diaby did not succeed in the right wing position, so we moved him to the left side, and we brought in Roger on the right side, and they performed well but it was not enough to change the result."

He continued: "The team is still at the beginning of the season, and the upcoming break will be an opportunity to address mistakes and come back stronger."

He concluded: "Al-Ittihad is a champion team, and our fans applauded the players after the match because they felt the team played with all its might but was not lucky."