The Harambee Stars played a crucial role in Wednesday’s outing against the Iranian side in a group tie
Al-Duhail SC head coach Sabri Lamouchi has discussed how Michael Olunga’s presence has helped them.
The Kenya international registered his first hat-trick in the AFC Champions League this season when he helped the Qatari club earn a 4-3 win over Esteghlal FC of Iran on Tuesday.
“Olunga deserved, of course, to be the man of the match. He’s a special player and his presence has helped us have a lot of attacking options,” Lamouchi said in his post-match conference.
“I can’t find the words to describe this exciting match and it is not easy to talk about it. I want to thank the players for their excellent performances.”
The tactician also revealed what they did in order to have a better performance in the second half as compared to the first one.
“We conceded three goals but we managed to get our heads together and recover mentally. In the second half, we tried our best to maintain the strengths of the players and that’s why we didn’t have a similar performance to the first half,” he added.
Esteghlal FC head coach Farhad Majidi picked the areas he thinks Olunga’s side did well to win points that took them to the top of the group.
“The two sides had a very good match and it was a tactical and physical contest,” Majidi said on his part. “I want to thank the players for the good fighting spirit they have had and the performance they showed.”
“We were the better team in the first half while Al-Duhail had only one chance and they scored from it. We made some individual mistakes in our defence and we should try to fix these mistakes.
“Al-Duhail played with good balance in defence and attack, and their coach implemented that very well. We were good upfront but we made some mistakes which cost us the three points.”
Olunga was named the man of the match for his exploits at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium. His hat-trick was also the first Al-Duhail have registered in the Champions League.
The Qatari outfit will face the Iranian side again on Saturday.
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