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PREVIEW: AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE<br />
THE LAST<br />
EIGHT<br />
EIGHT SIDES REMAIN IN CONTENTION TO BE NAMED<br />
2015 AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WINNERS, BUT WHO<br />
WILL COME OUT ON TOP AS THE TOURNAMENT<br />
ENTERS THE QUARTER-FINAL STAGE?<br />
With four former<br />
continental<br />
champions, a<br />
2013 semifinalist,<br />
a<br />
back-to-back<br />
domestic<br />
league winner,<br />
a comeback specialist and a debutant<br />
enjoying an extraordinary maiden<br />
campaign all in the mix to be crowned<br />
kings of Asian football, the 2015 AFC<br />
Champions League quarter-finals are<br />
eagerly anticipated.<br />
Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia remain in the<br />
hunt for a third Asian title that will help<br />
heal the heartbreak of last November’s<br />
final defeat by Australia’s Western<br />
Sydney Wanderers.<br />
The previous year’s winners,<br />
Guangzhou Evergrande, are making their<br />
fourth consecutive quarter-finals, while<br />
Korea Republic’s Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors<br />
and Japanese treble winners Gamba<br />
Osaka also know what it takes to lift the<br />
continental title.<br />
Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol, meanwhile,<br />
have returned to the form that saw them<br />
reach the 2013 semi-final.<br />
Qatar’s Lekhwiya continued to<br />
stamp their authority on their domestic<br />
league having successfully defended<br />
the championship and have seen that<br />
dominance extended to the continent.<br />
For Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates,<br />
though, the quarter-final stage is<br />
unchartered territory but consecutive<br />
come-from-behind wins show they will be<br />
a tough test for any opponent.<br />
Iranian club Naft Tehran round out<br />
the eight, and the play-off winners have<br />
continued to surprise more experienced<br />
sides on their debut in the AFC Champions<br />
League this season.<br />
AFC QUARTERLY 22
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