The Sharjah team is preparing for one of its most important matches this season when it travels to Saudi Arabia's Al-Ittihad today at 22:15 in the fourth round of the West Group in the AFC Champions League 'Elite'. Sharjah enters the match with a clear goal: to return with a positive result to restore balance after their heavy defeat in the previous round against Iran's Traktor with a 5-0 scoreline. This result left their tally at four points, collected from a win over Qatar's Al-Gharafa 4-3 and a draw with Al-Sadd 1-1, causing them to drop to sixth place in the overall standings. Sharjah does not appear to be in its best form during this period, following a series of negative results, the latest being a loss to Shabab Al-Ahli with a 2-0 score. This defeat has pushed the team further away from the title race in the league, freezing their points at seven in 11th place. The future of Serbian coach Milos Milojkovic with Sharjah is now in doubt, given these results that have not met the expectations of the fans, and a negative result against Al-Ittihad could likely lead to his dismissal. Despite the problems Sharjah is facing on the results front, it possesses the qualities to impose its style and return with a positive result that enhances its chances of qualifying, especially with the experience of its international players such as Caio Lucas, Miloni, Shahin Abdulrahman, and goalkeeper Adel Al-Hosni, who recently returned from injury. Meanwhile, Al-Ittihad is also experiencing an unstable start to the season on both local and continental levels, having suffered two consecutive defeats to UAE's Al-Wahda and Shabab Al-Ahli in the AFC Champions League 'Elite' before achieving its first win over Iraq's Police with a 4-1 score, which kept its hopes of qualifying alive, rising to seventh place in the West Asian group standings. Al-Ittihad received a significant morale boost before facing Sharjah with the return of the duo Hassan Kadous and Abdulrahman Al-Aboud, in addition to the return of French star Karim Benzema, who was absent from the last round against Al-Khaleej. It is expected that Al-Ittihad's coach, Conceicao, will rely on Serbian defender Simic to compensate for the absence of Portuguese Danilo Pereira, who was sent off against the Iraqi Police. Doubts surround the future of Serbian coach Milos Milojkovic with Sharjah. Al-Ittihad received a significant morale boost with the return of the duo Hassan Kadous and Abdulrahman Al-Aboud.
