Kobe manager Skibbe anticipating tough test in AFC Champions League quarter-finals

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/vissel-kobe/698tGI9q/"]Kobe[/a], winners of ‌the Japanese title in 2023 and 2024, have never won the Asian title and take on ‌the Qatari club that eliminated four-time champions [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/al-hilal/hxxcePl9/"]Al Hilal[/a] from Saudi Arabia in ‌a penalty shootout on Monday.[/p][p][b]"This will be a very strong opponent, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/al-sadd/AkENgqwB/"]Al Sadd[/a], as we ‌have seen two days before," said Skibbe, who is in his first ‌season as Kobe coach after four years with Sanfrecce Hiroshima.[/b][/p][p][b]"I think this will be a very interesting match for us.[/b][/p][p][b]"From eastern Asia it is not so easy to find very competitive ‌teams because around us there's the Japanese league, the ⁠Korean league and sometimes the teams ‌from China.[/b][/p][p][b]"But in between there's a far distance from the western part of Asia, and ​so we are very happy, after a long journey, to be here to show what a nice match we can have tomorrow."[/b][/p][embed guid="9e4167f4-26a2-431a-a30b-775e94b63065" url="https://x.com/TheAFCCL/status/2044174043494961282" social-type="twitter" /][p]Kobe and ​Al-Sadd are among eight teams left in Jeddah in the centralised finals series of the competition, where the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will all be played in ⁠the port city on Saudi ​Arabia's Red Sea coast.[/p][h2]Focusing on recovery[/h2][p]Skibbe is hopeful of fielding his strongest side, which would include former Japan international strikers [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/osako-yuya/OYzftLLu/"]Yuya Osako[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/muto-yoshinori/8bbTIqDq/"]Yoshinori Muto[/a], while [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mancini-roberto/phNfFF8I/"]Mancini[/a] is focused on ensuring his players recover from the ‌rigours of their win over Al Hilal.[/p][p]Al-Sadd fought back to equalise three times during regulation time in the last-16 meeting on Monday before winning 4-2 on penalties to eliminate the Simone Inzaghi-coached outfit.[/p][p][b]"We hope to recover very well from the last game," said Mancini. "It was very, very hard. We played 120 minutes. It's not easy, but we hope to recover very well. I think it will be a very good game, we're playing a good team with good players."[/b][/p][p]Saudi Arabian clubs had been expected to dominate the competition following the recent influx of highly ‌paid foreign talent from Europe's leading leagues, but Al-Sadd saw off an Al Hilal ​side featuring the likes of [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/benzema-karim/tpV0VX0S/"]Karim Benzema[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/neves-ruben/Ea90ReE4/"]Ruben Neves[/a].[/p][p]Defending champions [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/al-ahli-sc/0MHmoCY0/"]Al Ahli ‌[/a]are one of two Saudi clubs left in the competition, and they will face Malaysia's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/johor-dt/AVV6BGlb/"]Johor Darul Ta'zim[/a] on Friday, when fellow Jeddah-based side [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/al-ittihad/QmsyAjWh/"]Al Ittihad[/a] take on Machida Zelvia, the second remaining Japanese team.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/shabab-al-ahli-dubai/EiQ5g3JL/"]Shabab Al-Ahli[/a] from the United Arab Emirates will play Thailand's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/buriram-united-f-c/r3QHlQs7/"]Buriram United[/a] in the fourth and ⁠final quarter-final on Saturday, with the semi-finals ⁠to be held on Monday ‌and Tuesday. The final will be played on April 25th.[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/soccer/asia/afc-champions-league/"]Follow the Asian Champions League with Flashscore.[/a][/p]