The Matchday Five fixture is the fourth encounter between the two sides in the past 12 months. A brace from Boualem Khoukhi gave Al Sadd a 2-1 win at tomorrow’s venue in the first leg of the 2018 AFC Champions League Round of 16. The Qataris sealed qualification with a 2-2 draw in Jeddah a week later.

Al Ahli’s 2019 campaign started where they left off the previous year, but this time they were able to overcome Al Sadd 2-0 thanks to an Omar Al Somah double.

All teams across the four groups are still in contention for qualification to the Round of 16, setting up some tasty encounters in the eight matches taking place across Monday and Tuesday.

The hosts are third in the group with five points, one point ahead of their opponents. The two sides are still in the thick of the battle for knock-out stage places, with the other two Group D sides only marginally ahead of them.

Both teams fell to 2-1 away defeats on the previous matchday; Persepolis losing to Al Ahli in Jeddah, while Pakhtakor were beaten by Al Sadd in Doha, leaving the Qatari side top of the group with seven points and Al Ahli second with six.

The eight sides in Groups G and H will take to the field on Tuesday, before the remaining eight teams in Groups E and F follow suit a day later in a week that should see a number of the knockout stage qualification berths decided.

The reigning Saudi Pro League Champions sit top of Group C with nine points, two points ahead of their nearest chasers Al Duhail. They welcome to Riyadh an Al Ain side who are yet to record a win this campaign and are bottom of the group with two points.

The two weeks since their last AFC Champions League outing saw drastic changes at Al Hilal. The club parted ways with head coach Zoran Mamic and the former Al Ain man was replaced by Pericles Chamusca until the end of the season.

A 1-0 defeat to Al Hilal a fortnight ago left the Tehran-based side in third place with four points, three adrift of their Monday opponents and five behind leaders Al Hilal.

Esteghlal’s woes were compounded when a 1-0 loss to Padideh in the Iranian Pro League, resulting in the suspension of the services of coach Winfried Schafer, with assistant Farhad Majidi taking over at the helm.

Xavi, who has been playing for Al Sadd since 2015, said that he will move into coaching after hanging up his boots.

Xavi, who played a record 767 times for Spanish giants Barcelona and earned 133 caps with Spain, announced his retirement plans in an open letter to the Spanish media on Thursday.