Skibbe: Vissel Kobe Ready for Al-Sadd’s Quality in ACL Elite Last Eight
J-League champions Vissel Kobe face Roberto Mancini’s Al-Sadd on Thursday in the AFC Champions League Elite quarter-finals in Jeddah.
Kobe Manager Skibbe anticipating tough test in AFC Champions League quarter-finals...
Vissel Kobe coach Michael Skibbe is relishing the chance to test his team against higher-calibre opposition when the J-League side face Roberto Mancini’s Al-Sadd in the Asian Champions League Elite quarter-finals on Thursday.
Kobe, who won the Japanese title in 2023 and 2024, have never claimed the Asian crown and take on the Qatari club that knocked out four-time champions Al Hilal from Saudi Arabia in a penalty shootout on Monday.
Kobe and Al-Sadd are among eight teams remaining in Jeddah for the centralised finals series of the competition, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final all set to be played in the port city on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast.
“This will be a very strong opponent, Al Sadd, as we have seen two days before,” said Skibbe, who is in his first season as Kobe coach after four years with Sanfrecce Hiroshima.
“I think this will be a very interesting match for us.
“From eastern Asia it is not so easy to find very competitive teams because around us there's the Japanese league, the Korean league and sometimes the teams from China.
“But in between there's a far distance from the western part of Asia, and so we are very happy, after a long journey, to be here to show what a nice match we can have tomorrow.”
Focusing on Recovery
Skibbe is hopeful of fielding his strongest side, which would include former Japan international strikers Yuya Osako and Yoshinori Muto, while Mancini is focused on making sure his players recover from the demands of their win over Al Hilal.
Al-Sadd fought back to equalise three times in regulation time in the last-16 meeting on Monday before winning 4-2 on penalties to knock out the Simone Inzaghi-coached side.
“We hope to recover very well from the last game,” said Mancini. “It was very, very hard. We played 120 minutes. It's not easy, but we hope to recover very well. I think it will be a very good game, we're playing a good team with good players.”
𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟 8️⃣
— #ACLElite | #ACLTwo (@TheAFCCL) April 14, 2026
The quarter-finalists are set. Who’s going all the way to be crowned as the new Kings of Asia? 🏆#ACLElite pic.twitter.com/BhRBS7sPgK
Saudi Arabian clubs had been expected to dominate the competition following the recent influx of highly paid foreign talent from Europe's top leagues, but Al-Sadd knocked out an Al Hilal side featuring Karim Benzema and Ruben Neves.
Defending champions Al Ahli are one of two Saudi clubs left in the competition and will face Malaysia's Johor Darul Ta'zim on Friday, when fellow Jeddah-based side Al Ittihad take on Machida Zelvia, the second remaining Japanese team.
Shabab Al-Ahli from the United Arab Emirates will play Thailand's Buriram United in the fourth and final quarter-final on Saturday, with the semi-finals to be held on Monday and Tuesday. The final will be played on April 25.
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