Joy for Jarolim as Al Ahli book final berth
Karel Jarolim was unable to hide his delight after his Al Ahli side booked their place in the AFC Champions League final with a 2-1 aggregate win over Al Ittihad.
By ESPNSTAR.com staff
Goals from Moataz Al Muta and Victor Simoes were enough to hand Al Ahli a 2-0 victory on Wednesday, which was enough to overturn the one-goal deficit from last week's first leg.
The Saudi Premier League giants will now meet Ulsan Hyundai in November 10's final and Jarolim believes his side's mature display was key to the victory.
"I'm really happy with his win and thank God we eventually won today [Wednesday]," he said on the AFC's official website.
"We had good chances in the first half of the game and we eventually took the lead by the end of the first half.
"We managed not to lose the ball in the second period and we forced Al Ittihad to move without the ball and this affected them physically. Of course we tried to create some more chances but we missed the last touch before Victor managed to score."
The Czech tactician was effusive in his praise of his Brazilian match-winner, who he believes had a better outing than he did last week.
"Victor improved a lot from the first leg and we are now in the final of the competition thanks to his goal," Jarolim added.
"I want to thank my players and our fans who stood next to us and supported the team throughout the match. Our focus was on this match and we will now start preparing for the match against Ulsan."
Al Ittihad won the Champions League in 2004 and 2005 but the last time they made the final in 2009, they ended up on the losing side against Pohang Steelers.