Sports · Football · 4 hrs ago
Al-Ittihad coach backs players after 4-1 loss to Al-Ain
Al-Ittihad lost 4-1 to Al-Ain in the fourth round of the AFC Champions League Elite.
Al-Ittihad is a Saudi club, while Al-Ain is from the United Arab Emirates.
Coach Jens Wiesing stood by his players, saying the team is still developing and cannot be changed overnight.
He said one poor performance should not erase the team's earlier efforts and results.
Al-Ittihad had three days to prepare, compared with a week for Al-Ain, and Wiesing said the busy schedule makes recovery important.
The team needs to improve physically and mentally to compete with strong opponents.
Wiesing said there is still a lot of work ahead, but gave no specific next step or timetable.
Al-Ittihad lost 4-1 to UAE side Al-Ain in the fourth round of the AFC Champions League Elite.
Coach Jens Wiesing backed his players after the defeat, saying he would defend them and that the team was still developing.
He said the team could not be judged on one match and pointed to previous comebacks and displays of fighting spirit.
Wiesing said Al-Ain had a week to prepare, while Al-Ittihad had only three days and had played 18 matches since his arrival.
He said the team needed to improve physically and mentally, and that more work lay ahead.
- Who
- Al-Ittihad and its coach, Jens Wiesing, after facing Al-Ain.
- What
- Al-Ittihad lost 4-1, and Wiesing defended his players and said the team was still developing.
- When
- The match was in the fourth round of the AFC Champions League Elite. The articles were published on November 2, 2026.
- Where
- Not stated
- Why
- Wiesing said Al-Ittihad had only three days to prepare, compared with a week for Al-Ain, and that the team still needed to develop.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Al-Ain had a week to prepare, while Al-Ittihad had three days.
Yardbarker reported Wiesing's comments after Al-Ittihad's 4-1 defeat to Al-Ain.
- Result
- Al-Ittihad lost 4-1
- Competition
- AFC Champions League Elite, fourth round
- Al-Ittihad preparation
- Three days
- Al-Ain preparation
- One week
- Matches since Wiesing's arrival
- 18
3 sources
What people are saying
I am very happy with the players in my team, and I will defend them to the last breath
we are not machines to be transformed at the press of a button
I would be unjust to the team if I judged it based only on what it delivered today
Al-Ain had a week to prepare, while we had only three days