The season in the Qatar League ended with the Al Sadd title but the competition for Al Rayyan has not yet ended on the Asian continent. The team where the Colombian steering wheel James Rodríguez plays confirmed the list of footballers registered for the tournament that will start on April 8.
Defending champion Al Hilal SFC, where the steering wheel Gustavo Cuellar plays, will face Tajikistan's Istiklol in the group stage of the 2022 AFC Champions League, marking the second time in consecutive seasons that the two have met in the continental club championship.
Qatar's Al Rayyan where James Rodriguez plays and the winners of the tiebreaker, Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates completes Group A after the draw was completed in Kuala Lumpur, but many eyes will be on the clash between the four-time champions and the Dushanbe club. The Qatari team's first match will be on April 8 against Istiklol as a visitor and the last match against the complicated Al Hilal, on April 28 in Saudi Arabia.
Istiklol scored a surprise 4-1 victory when the teams met in their second group stage meeting in 2021, and that victory ensured that the Tajik club won Group A ahead of Al Hilal to advance to the knockout rounds.
Al Hilal, however, ignored the disappointment of that defeat to continue and win the title, defeating FC Pohang Steelers in the final to become the first club to win Asia's top competition four times.
Meanwhile, the debutant in the Mumbai City tournament in India has been drawn in Pool B along with Al Jazeera from the United Arab Emirates, Al Shabab from Saudi Arabia and the three-time AFC Cup winner Air Force Club of Iraq.
Pool C is led by Foolad Khouzestan of the Islamic Republic of Iran and 2015 finalists Shabab Al Ahli Dubai, as well as Al Gharafa of Qatar and Ahal FC of Turkmenistan.
The Iranian Sepahan, who reached the final of the 2007 edition, will face Qatar's Al Duhail, two-time semi-finalist Pakhtakor from Uzbekistan and the winner of the playoff between Saudi Arabia's Al Taawon and Syrian Al Jaish in the Pool. D.
Qatar's Al Sadd, winners of the title in 2011, will face Saudi Arabia's Al Faisaly, Jordan's Al Wehdat and the playoff winners with Baniyas of the United Arab Emirates and Nasaf Qarshi in Pool E.
Through one of his Twitch broadcasts, the '10′ of the Colombian national team confessed that he would like to leave Qatar, where he arrived eight months ago after leaving Everton in England.
Let us remember that the Colombian in this time has scored four goals in twelve games played. “Until when in Qatar. I don't know, you don't know what's going to happen. Although I would like to go the other way now,” said James Rodriguez.
He added that: “The team in the league has not been given the results, but in the cup we are doing well, the idea is to be able to win it. I'm playing, I'm doing things right, I've played a lot of games already, I'm happy about that, because a long time ago I didn't play so many games online.”
In addition, he confessed that he is not closed to migrating to another football league. Now, in the only big league the wheel has not participated is in the Italiana, an option that was playing before reaching Al-Rayyan. Likewise, he said that if the conditions were met, he could return to Colombian football, although he acknowledged that he would like to think, as for his retirement, about ending his career in the United States.
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