Last year’s AFC Champions League finalists and the 2012 runners-up face-off on Matchday Four of Group D on Monday. They find themselves occupying third and fourth place respectively.

Al Ahli come into the match with a new boss at the helm after Uruguayan manager Jorge Fossati was dismissed less than three months after being appointed.

Having crossed the halfway line of the group stage, Matchday Four sees the sides that faced-off two weeks ago trading places with the reverse encounters kicking-off the second half of Groups A to D in West Asia.

First up are the sides in Groups F and H, who will play their Matchday Four fixtures on Tuesday, before the remaining teams in Groups E and G round off the week’s action on Wednesday.

A high-scoring affair in Tashkent a fortnight ago ended in a 2-2 draw, with Spanish midfielder Xavi bagging a brace for Al Sadd. The result kept Pakhtakor at the top of the group with five points, while Al Sadd trail by a point and a place.

A win against Al Sadd can put Pakhtakor a step closer to qualifying to the AFC Champions League knock-out stage for the first time in nine years, while three points for the Qataris can put them on track to reaching the Round of 16 for the fourth time in the past six years.

The Emirati side recovered from a 2-0 defeat to PFC Lokomotiv on the opening matchday to go on and win their two subsequent games. A 4-1 hammering of Al Ittihad was followed by a hard-fought 2-1 win against Al Rayyan in Doha.

Standing out for Al Wahda has been Brazilian winger Leonardo, who netted three goals in as many matches so far, including an added time winner in the reverse fixture two weeks ago.

Despite fighting back from two goals down to equalise in the second half, Lokomotiv fell to a 3-2 defeat in the reverse fixture with Fahad Al Muwallad netting the winning goal from the spot in added time.

The result left the Uzbek side bottom of the group with three points, while two-time champions Al Ittihad are level with group leaders Al Wahda on six points each, but are second on head-to-head record.