Luneng have home advantage in their first leg against the reigning champions. Instead, Shenzhen's knock-out adventure begins with a trip to Jeddah.

Having coached Saudi outfit Al Nasr two years ago, Shandong boss Ljubisa Tumbakovic knows what west Asian football is all about.

"Al Ittihad are probably the strongest team in the competition. They proved just how good a team they were by winning the tournament last year," said Tumbakovic about Shandong's opponents.

Shandong may be unbeaten in the ACL so far with six group wins out of six, but Tumbakovic insists playing away to west Asian sides is no easy task.

"There will be a lot of pressure for us to get a result when we play the first leg at home but we must do well in that game because the second game will be very difficult," he continued.

"The weather conditions will certainly not be easy for us as it will be very, very hot when we play in Saudi Arabia at that time of the year."

"I don't know very much about the team that they have now apart from their Serbian midfielder Dejan Petkovic. He's a good player and he can probably give some advice to the Al Ittihad team about football in China as well because he used to play for Shanghai Shenhua.

"Certainly, the standard of football in that region has improved in recent years. The players from west Asia are very skilled and after watching teams like Bahrain at last year's Asian Cup, they now appear to be much better organized from when I was there."

Tumbakovic already has his spy network in place. "I will need some help to learn more about their team, but I still have some friends in Saudi Arabia from my time at Al Nasr and I hope that I can get more information about Al Ittihad from them," he concluded.

AFC Champions League knock-out stage draw:

Quarter-final 1: Al Ahli (Saudi Arabia) v Shenzhen Jianlibao (China)

Quarter-final 2: Shandong Luneng (China) v Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia)

Quarter-final 3: Busan I'Park (South Korea) v Al Sadd (Qatar)

Quarter-final 4: Al Ain (United Arab Emirates) v Pas (Iran)

Semi-final 1: Winner QF 4 v Winner QF 1

Semi-final 2: Winner QF 3 v Winner QF 2

Final: Winner SF 1 v Winner SF 2

Dates:
Quarter-final first legs: 14 September
Quarter-final return legs: 21 September
Semi-final first legs: 28 September
Semi-final return legs: 12 October
Final first leg: 26 October
Final return leg: 31 October

(sinosoc.com June 16, 2005)