Football: Petrescu wants to sign off with a win

Petrescu is aiming for a happy ending against bottom-of-the table Bani Yas

Al Nasr coach Dan Petrescu hopes to sign off with a win when his side takes on relegation-threatened Bani Yas in Round 24 of the Arabian Gulf League.
The fixture against the Sky Blues is Al Nasr's last home game of the season and the Romanian wants nothing else other than a victory at the Al Maktoum Stadium on Friday night.
The Blue Wave, who are placed sixth on the table, have 11 wins, six at home and five on the road. Their remaining fixtures are against champions-elect Al Jazira and Emirates away at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium and Emirates Stadium respectively.
And Petrescu hopes for a happy ending against bottom-of-the table Bani Yas, at their fortress -the Al Maktoum Stadium.
"We are coming after a nice victory (against Hatta in the President's Cup semifinal). Now, we have to concentrate on the League and the last three games and the first one is against Bani Yas," Petrescu said his pre-match press briefing on Wednesday evening.
"I'm sure it will be a very difficult match. For Bani Yas, it may be the last chance and if they win, they will have a chance to survive and if they don't win, maybe they will be relegated. In the first 16 games, they got only five points but in the last seven, they got eight points. They were also very unlucky in the last minute against Sharjah. For us, it is very important because it is our last home game this season in the League. And I hope we finish it with a victory," he added.
Despite injury woes and one eye on the President's Cup final against Al Wahda in May, Petrescu said it would be unfair not to put his best available team for the remaining games.
"We already have two foreign players not playing and if I don't put any foreign players, what will the other teams think, who are fighting for relegation. Also, for us, we need players to play. As far as rest, we have one week and not a match every three days. If we have a match every three days, one can understand. But we have a match every seven days and you don't need rest and the players have to play," said Petrescu.
Petrescu revealed that he had watched Al Wahda's 5-1 victory against Qatar's Al Rayyan in the AFC Champions League on Monday but said that a Cup final was different.
"I was at the Stadium to watch the game and I saw a very good performance from Al Wahda. Before the match, a lot of people were saying Al Wahda were not in good form but they scored five against Al Rayyan, who, in my opinion, is a very good team," he felt.
"It is difficult to understand because sometimes Al Wahda play really well. For example, against Al Sharjah in the semifinal, it was also a good game. In the final, it is going to be different because a final is always a final. And for sure, chances will be 50/50," he added.
james@khaleejtimes.com