Shandong fans embrace continental contest
(footballasia.com)
Updated: 2005-09-13 16:47

AFC Champions League hopefuls Shandong Luneng are expecting to test the capacity of the Shandong Sports Centre when they face the AFC Champions’ League holders Al Ittihad in their quarter-final first leg match.

Shandong fans are expected in their numbers for the visit of Al Ittihad [WSG]

The stadium - the scene of arguably two of the greatest matches in the history of Asian football in last year’s 4-3 victory for Iran over Korea Republic in the Asian Cup quarter-finals and Japan’s semi-final win by the same score against Bahrain – has a capacity of 35,000 for football matches, and a club official told footballasia.com that Al Ittihad’s visit has attracted tremendous interest.

"When the ticket office closed on Monday we had sold 16,800 tickets, but the interest from sponsors and VIP’s has been so great we have also given away another 5,000," explained Shandong Luneng’s vice general manager Liu Lisheng.

"Usually fans in China only buy their tickets on the day and yet we’re already expecting more than our average gate of 20,000."

Runners-up in the 2004 China Super League behind Shenzhen Jianlibao, who they then beat to win the CSL Cup, Shandong have not been short of special moments in recent times.

The club are already through to the semi-finals of this year’s China FA Cup and the last four of the CSL Cup, but Liu says the AFC Champions’ League has created a real buzz in the province.

"The fans love it. It’s an international match. The people in Jinan love to see teams from other countries,” he said.

"The AFC Champions League is always good for our club, because it gives us that chance to play overseas teams and it gets the fans so excited."

There was one piece of bad news for Shandong ahead of the big game against the Saudi Arabian team. Chinese international striker Li Jinyu has been ruled out through injury. On the plus side, the remarkably versatile international Zheng Zhi, who has played every position but goalkeeper in his professional career, successfully came through his come-back game and will play.

The former Shenzhen star, out for several weeks with an ankle recovery, suffered no adverse reaction to his outing in the CSL last weekend when Shandong effectively drove a final nail into the coffin of Shanghai Shenhua’s title challenge by holding them to a goalless draw.

That result was a boost to the morale of the Shandong side that, Liu claims, are in the perfect place psychologically for the Ittihad clash.

"We are confident, but we have nothing to lose against the champions of last year. If we can play well in this match it will build us up for the away match. We know it will be difficult in Jeddah, but we have nothing to lose.

"We’re playing the best club in Asia."

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