AFC - Sepahan coach Zlatko Krancjar has insisted that his team have put their weekend exertions in the Hazfi Cup semi-finals behind them and that they are fully focused on their AFC Champions League showdown with Al Ahli on Tuesday.

The Esfahan club secured their place in the Hazfi Cup final after they defeated Iranian league leaders Esteghlal in a penalty shootout following a 1-1 extra-time draw in Tehran.

They face Al Ahli just 72 hours after that match but Krancjar (pictured) is confident that his players are ready to meet the Saudi club, who lead Group C after picking up maximum points from their first two games.

“We are in high spirits for this match,” said the Croatian coach. “Despite the fact that we had such a short time for recovery after our prolonged match against Esteghlal, I expect my players to get a good result from a good performance.

“We have not had any problems in our squad yet. We have been training today and I am not sure what is going to happen.”

The two clubs met four times in last year’s AFC Champions League with Sepahan topping their group but losing to Al Ahli in the quarter-finals after a 0-0 draw in Isfahan and a 4-1 defeat in Jeddah.

While he expressed some disappointment at having to face the Saudi club again this year, Krancjar is confident of getting a good result this time around.

“I wasn’t too happy after the draw for the AFC Champions League was made because we were placed in the same group as Al Ahli,”he said. “They are strong and have good players. But in spite of our draw against them here last season, I hope that they have a good performance tomorrow.

"All the teams can watch our games and see how our midfielders can feed our strikers with their creativity and great play-making. They can plan to play defensive football against us but there is no team who can resist our midfielders or stop them.”

Aleksandar Ilic will lead his side against Sepahan for the first time after he replaced Karel Jarolim, who took Al Ahli to the AFC Champions League final last year. The Serbian admitted that he had plenty of respect for the Iranian side.

"Sepahan are a really good team with good players but we will have to try to get maximum points from tomorrow's match,”he said.

"I do not want to predict anything but we know that Sepahan have a very strong midfield. However, if we can stop their midfielders we can get a good result.

“I think the two most influential players for Sepahan are Mohammad Reza Khalatbari and Milan Susak."

Also in Group C on Tuesday, Qatar’s Al Gharafa will be without former Al Nasr midfielder Mark Bresciano due to injury for the trip to Dubai.

Bresciano, who joined Al Gharafa from Al Nasr at the start of the season, suffered a knee ligament injury while playing for Australia in last week’s FIFA World Cup qualifier against Oman and is expected to be ruled out for the remainder of the Group Stage.

“The match against Al Nasr will not be decisive for us, but the result will affect the chances of the two teams in the competition. We are in Dubai looking for a win and hopefully we can get into contention for a place in the Round of 16,” said Al Gharafa coach Habib Tounsi.

“We are facing a good team with high capabilities. We watched their match against Al Ahli where they showed a good performance but they were unlucky. The match will be hard for the two sides and hopefully we can get the three points.”

Al Nasr coach Walter Zenga, meanwhile, will be without captain Léo Lima (Leonardo Lima da Silva) after the Brazilian midfielder was sent-off in the first half against Al Ahli.

“The match against Al Gharafa is important as we are looking forward to getting a positive result in order to help us to advance to the knockout stage. The chances are open for all the teams and we must give all our best to make a good comeback after the first two defeats,” said Zenga.

“We have prepared well for the match and won our last league game against Baniyas. I hope this win will give us a big push to get a positive result against Al Gharafa.

“We have a heavy schedule but hopefully the players will not be affected with this and the players will show all their best.”