Coulibaly: The most important thing for me is Al Hilal’s victory

Khalidou Coulibaly, defender of the Saudi Al Hilal team, expressed his satisfaction with the victory achieved by his team over the UAE’s Shabab Al Ahly, in the fourth round of the AFC Elite Champions League.

Coulibaly said, in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat: “It was a difficult match, and we were looking forward to compensation after our loss in the last match, so achieving victory was very important, and thank God we succeeded in that.”

Regarding his preference to play alongside one central defender or within a defense line that includes three players, Coulibaly stressed that the team’s interest comes first, saying: “The most important thing to me is Al Hilal’s victory.”

Mohamed Mahzri, a player for Al Hilal, said that his team had to make a strong reaction after losing to the Qatari Al Shamal team in the penultimate round of the AFC Champions League for the Elite, and this is what actually happened against the UAE’s Shabab Al Ahly, which Al Azraq Al Asimi won with a clean double.

Speaking to the media after Al Hilal’s victory, Mahzri added that the team played the match with a desire to make amends.

Regarding his opinion on replacing the player Sabri Dahl, Mahrezi said: The reason may be that the coach was afraid that he would be deficient in the match after the yellow card, and he was interested in completing the match with the full number, indicating that the player Dahl did not fall short in the minutes in which he participated.

Regarding his advanced and different technical performance with Al-Hilal, Mahzri said: Whoever says that may not have followed me when I was playing for the Al-Taawoun team, and he concluded by saying, “May God keep me in good faith.”

Simone Inzaghi, coach of Al Hilal, considered that his team was very excellent as it faced Shabab Al Ahly of the Emirates, which had begun its career in the elite AFC Champions League with “3” consecutive victories, indicating that he sought to continue the approach of rotation among the players in his team.

Al-Hilal succeeded in overcoming Shabab Al-Ahly with a double from Englishman Watkins, to regain its winning streak after losing to Al-Shamal of Qatar in the last round.

Inzaghi said in the press conference: “We were very excellent in the match against a team that achieved victory in its first three matches. We controlled the match and achieved the victory, which is a step forward.”

The Al Hilal coach added: “All the players were excellent, including Sabri Dahl, and after he received the yellow card, I replaced him so that we would not risk him getting the red card. He is a young and promising player and I urge him to make more efforts.”

Inzaghi added in his speech: “The players performed at a wonderful level, and today I sought to rotate some of the players, given the pressure of the matches. Regarding the impact of the absences on his team, Inzaghi said: We had some absences, Ruben Neves, Martinelli, Summerville and Salem, but in general we are happy with the performance, and we are constantly working to improve the part of dealing with set pieces.”

Regarding the technical approach, the Italian coach said: “When we had the ball, we played in a 4-3-3 system, and when the opponent had the ball, we played with three defenders.”

Regarding the readiness of the injured players, Inzaghi concluded his speech: “We hope that Salem Al-Dosari will be available to us after the suspension period, along with the rest of the injured players.”