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Wednesday 28th October 2009

Gabriel Calderon

Calderon dismisses title talk

Al Ittihad coach Gabriel Calderon insists talk of winning the Asian Champions League is premature.

This despite seeing his side breeze into the final with an 8-3 aggregate win over Nagoya Grampus.

The Saudi champions defeated Nagoya 2-1 at Mizuho Athletic Stadium today to follow up the 6-2 first-leg demolition of the Japanese outfit in Jeddah last week.

Al Ittihad are looking to claim their third Asian title and will be confident of their chances, especially having progressed through this year's Champions League without losing a game.

But Calderon remains grounded, insisting anything could happen in the final.

"Before every match the chance to win is 50/50 for each team so I cannot say who will win," said the former Argentina international.

"But we always play for a win and we will do so again in the final.

"Our team went into the game (against Nagoya) with a good chance to get to the final. We had a good result in the first match and we played well again today, especially against such a strong team like Nagoya."

Nagoya needed to win by four goals whilst preventing Al Ittihad from scoring themselves if they were to reach the final.

But, despite a spirited start, it was the visitors who took the lead through Saleh Al Saqri shortly before half-time to put paid to any hopes of a fightback.

Amine Chermiti then scored a second for Al Ittihad before Keita Sugimoto grabbed a consolation for Nagoya with a stunning overhead volley.

Nagoya coach Dragan Stojkovic still drew upon the positives from the defeat and was pleased with his side's performance as a whole in their maiden Champions League appearance.

"We played good football today and showed good effort, we gave our maximum and from my point of view we played against the top team in Asia," said the former Yugoslavia international.

"It has been a very important adventure for my team to play in the Champions League. It is an important experience to play in Asia.

"From my point of view they (Al Ittihad) are the top team in Asia. We have played a lot of teams in the Champions League but Al Ittihad were something different. Probably they will be the champions this year."


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