Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Dubai: Georgios Donis held his hands up and accepted the blame for Al Hilal’s exit from the semi-finals of the 2015 AFC Champions League after his side succumbed to a stoppage-time strike by Kwon Kyung-won that earned Al Ahli a place in the final of the continental club championship.
Brazilian duo Ailton and Carlos Eduardo scored in the second half for Al Hilal to cancel out first-half efforts from Lima and Everton Ribeiro and, with the clock ticking down, Al Hilal looked to have booked their place in the final by virtue of the away goals rule.
But Kwon’s deflected effort from just inside the penalty area with barely a minute stoppage time remaining sent the Rashid Stadium wild and takes Al Ahli into the final for the first time in the club’s 45-year history.
ACL SF 2nd Leg: Al Ahli 3-2 Al Hilal (4-3 agg.)
“It’s very hard for us because we lost the game in the last minute,” said the Greek coach, who took over in February. “I’m a person who recognises my faults. I was afraid today from the beginning of the game.
“We had a very bad performance in the first 30 minutes. After we were better. We were unlucky because Al Ahli scored 2-0 in the last minute of the first half but we never gave up.
“We tried a lot in the second half and we were better in the second half. We played very good football, we created a lot of chances, and we changed the game. We had the opportunity to get the ball to win some free kicks but we lost that chance, I accept it is my fault.”
Donis was forced into making two changes due to suspensions being served by Brazilian central defender Digao and midfielder Salman Al Faraj, and the loss of the Saudi international in particular made life difficult for the coach.
“The problem with us especially once we had Salman suspended, was we didn’t have a second midfield player, a defensive midfield player and that was the reason (for a formation change),” he said.
“I recognise my faults and I was afraid in the beginning to lose the game and maybe my first idea was wrong.”
Donis rebuffed questions about his future, insisting the aftermath of such a disappointing loss was not the time to be discussing his position at the club.
“Maybe I don't know we play like 30 games and we won 25,” he said. “We played in the semi-final and we lost in the last minute. I’m very proud of my team because they worked very hard in all of this period. I know it’s hard, but we have a lot of targets and it’s very hard to win every target and this question, in this period, is very stupid.”
Photo: WSG