Football: Wanderers keeper Covic braces for Al Hilal onslaught

Western Sydney Wanderers goalkeeper Ante Covic (right) reacts as Nassir Alshamrani of Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal touches him during their Asian Champions League final first-leg soccer match at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney on Oct 25, 2014. Al Hilal
Western Sydney Wanderers goalkeeper Ante Covic (right) reacts as Nassir Alshamrani of Saudi Arabia's Al-Hilal touches him during their Asian Champions League final first-leg soccer match at Parramatta Stadium in Sydney on Oct 25, 2014. Al Hilal will come out "all guns blazing" in front of a massive crowd at their home King Fahd Stadium in the decisive second leg of the Asian Champions League final but Western Sydney will not be cowed, according to Wanderers keeper Ante Covic. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

RIYADH (REUTERS) - Al Hilal will come out "all guns blazing" in front of a massive crowd at their home King Fahd Stadium in the decisive second leg of the Asian Champions League final but Western Sydney will not be cowed, according to Wanderers keeper Ante Covic.

The Australian has been the A-League side's arch-sledger in the lead-up to Saturday's clash, branding the Saudi side as "arrogant" earlier in the week and remains keen to keep up the fighting talk.

"There's going to be 65-odd thousand Al-Hilal supporters and they're going to make it as intimidating as possible and try and wear us down in that aspect," Covic, who was imperious in the 1-0 first leg win in Sydney, told reporters in Riyadh.

"But we're not going to fall under that kind of pressure.

"We know that they're going to be confident, they're playing at home and they're rubbing it in our faces how daunting it's going to be in front of their fans and how we've seen nothing yet.

"We're not going to fall for those traps, we just know that we're going to be in for a good, hard, solid game against a quality opposition."

Covic was put under intense pressure late in the second half at Parramatta Stadium as Al Hilal pushed for a late equaliser but the keeper was equal to the task and made a string of fine saves.

The jet-heeled Nassir Al Shamrani was behind a number of Al Hilal's promising attacking forays and said his side should be heading into the second leg defending a lead and not chasing the game.

"Our performance in the first game showed us that we could have won, even though the reality was that we could not, but in this game we are sure everything will go our way and we will win and win the cup," said the 30-year-old forward, the second-highest scorer in the tournament with 10 goals.

"A team is made up of 11 players and who scores is not an issue of importance as we just want to win.

"As a striker, I want to score and I hope I can score in this game to help my team win the cup."

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