East Bengal will be without the services of influential India national team captain Baichung Bhutia for Wednesday’s AFC Cup meeting with Lebanon League champions Al Nejmeh at Beirut Sports City Stadium. East Bengal arrived in Beirut on Monday without hamstring injury victim Bhutia, who is set to be sidelined for three weeks.But despite the absence of the former Bury striker, Belgian coach Philippe De Ridder is confident East Bengal can bounce back from last month’s 4-1 home defeat by Syria’s Al Ittihad after drawing 1-1 with I-League leaders Mahindra United at the weekend."We were unfortunate to lose the first match at home, but we want to make up for that defeat. We failed to score from the chances we had and this is a big problem for us,” said De Ridder.
"We will miss Baichung, but we have players who can cover him. All the players are good and the replacement should play well to take advantage of the chance to play.
"We want to have a good show in order to get a positive result. We will go into the game against Al Nejmeh to play well and the good result will come based on the performance."
Since their 1-1 draw with Kuwait’s Al Qadisa, Al Nejmeh have appointed former coach Abdulaziz Abdulshafi following the resignation of Lebanon national team coach Emile Rustom.
News Courtsey: The-afc.com
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