After narrowly losing their first group game last Sunday against ASEC Mimosas, Ghana champions Aduana Stars are on the path of redemption as they seek to win their first three points of the campaign.
On Wednesday, Aduana welcome continental giants Raja Club Athletic to the Nana Agyemang Badu Park in what promises to be a game full of action as both sides clash for the first time at any level.
Both teams are yet to record a win in the competition as the visitors failed to pick all three points at home against visiting AS Vita of DR Congo. Aduana, on the other hand, fell 1-0 at ASEC and will be looking to make amends in the Day Two fixture.
The last time Aduana played at that venue was against Fosa Juniors from Madagascar and the ‘Ogya Boys’, as they are nicknamed, run riot winning 6-1, a result head coach Abubakar Yussif believes will serve a motivation for Wednesday’s game.
“We need to maintain a good run in the competition, especially in our home games. The fans went home excited the last time we played in the competition here (Dormaa) and that is what we are looking to maintain though I don’t see a huge scoreline like that of Fosa Juniors,” Yussif mentioned.
He added that they have picked up the pieces from their narrow loss to ASEC on match day one, whilst acknowledging that Raja, three-time African champions will be a hard nut to crack.
“I mentioned that we had no business losing that game looking at the chances we managed to create. We have moved on and are fine-tuning our preparations for Raja, a game we know will be tough because they dropped points at home.
“We are not worried. We are only concentrating on getting the job done and picking our first three points, an action that will aid our progression in this competition.”
On his part, midfielder Elvis Opoku who is an integral member of the current Aduana squad added that anything short of victory “will make our dream of emerging tops at the end of the Group stage very difficult.
“At this point, it is a win that matters and that is what we need to do, not the number of goals. We have to win on Wednesday to bring some form of hope among our fans who were downhearted after our loss to ASEC”.
Meanwhile, AS Vita will host ASEC in the other Group a match in Kinshasa also on Wednesday.