AFC - Coach Amir Ghalenoei is banking on two-time Asian champions Esteghlal to bounce back after their shock defeat in their AFC Champions League Group A opener last month with victory on the road against Al Rayyan at the Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium on Tuesday.

A goal from Palestinian striker Imad Khalili just after the hour mark secured a surprise 1-0 victory for 2013 quarter-finalists Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia in arguably the shock result of the first round of fixtures against the Iran champions in Tehran.

And Esteghlal will now look to get off the mark in Doha against an Al Rayyan side who beat Qatar SC 3-0 in the Stars League on Saturday thanks to two goals from Nigerian striker Kalu Uche.

“We will be playing against strong opponents but at the same time we have a big motivation to make a good comeback after losing the first match at home. Both sides have similar conditions and this mean that the match will not be easy,” said coach Ghalenoei, whose side currently occupy second place in the Iran Pro League, a point off fellow AFC Champions League side Foolad Khouzestan.

“We had an unfortunate defeat in the first match against Al Shabab and hopefully we can recover against Al Rayyan. The match is very hard and important because the two sides will be looking to register their first win in the competition.”

Al Rayyan coach Manuel Jimenez, who saw his side defeated 3-2 by Walter Zenga’s Al Jazira in their opening AFC Champions League fixture, will welcome back forward Ahmed Al Aaeldin and midfielder Abdulla Talib from injuries but defender Hamid Ismaeil has been ruled out with an ankle problem.

“I hope that the players will be ready for the match but I’m worried about the fitness of the players as we played a match in the local league two days ago while our opponents didn’t play any matches in a week,” said Jimenez.

“However, we have no other option but to fight in order to achieve the three points. The AFC Champions League is totally different than the league and we hope that we can have a better performance than we displayed in the first match against Al Jazira.”