Everton Ribeiro: Al Ahli’s chief creator one match away from ‘achieving the dream’ of ACL success

Everton Ribeiro will be a key part of Al Ahli's hopes of Asian Champions League success. Adil Alnaimi / Al Ittihad

Al Ahli take on Guangzhou Evergrande in the second leg of the Asian Champions League final on Saturday with the tie finely poised after this month’s 0-0 draw in Dubai. Everton Ribeiro, the Ahli playmaker, spoke to the media ahead of the return fixture at Guangzhou’s Tianhe Stadium.

[LIVE BLOG: Follow the build-up to the Asian Champions League final second leg]

ON FULFILLING A DREAM:

“We’ve been working hard during this season and in this competition and now we are now one step away of our dream, which is this trophy,” Ribeiro said. “We are getting prepared to be in the best shape to achieve this dream. We hope with the help of God and the work we have done so far that we can take the trophy.”

ON COMPLETING THE PROJECT:

“When I started the conversation about coming to the club, I had a meeting with the president and all the staff and the biggest target for the club was to reach this point. With all our teamwork, today the dream to achieve this final has come true. Because of that, tomorrow we’re going to do our best to reach the objective we had planned for.”

On GUANGZHOU’S THREAT:

“Guangzhou are a very strong team and during the season have played very good football. They have local players with quality and also the foreign players that everyone already knows about. But our team is a compact team as well, who have been playing good football and we know the quality we have, too. Our hope tomorrow is to proceed and bring the cup back.”

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