Adelaide United a chance to meet its Chinese soccer ‘sister’ Shandong Luneng in Champions League

ADELAIDE United is a chance to meet its Chinese soccer ‘sister’ Shandong Luneng during February’s AFC Champions League do-or-die play off.

Marcos Flores (c) of Australia's Adelaide United controls the ball during the AFC Champions League soccer match between Shan...

Adelaide United is a chance to meet its Chinese soccer ‘sister’ Shandong Luneng during February’s AFC Champions League do-or-die play off.

Adelaide has had a sister relationship with the Chinese giant since 2008.

The club is owned by an electrical company and is in a city home for 97 million people in the Shandong province.

With the Asian Football Confederation on Thursday conducting its official Champions League group stage draw from Kuala Lumpur, Adelaide must win the one-off match or face an early exit from the lucrative competition.

The Reds have been drawn to play the fixture at Coopers Stadium on Tuesday, February 9.

Adelaide will face either Shandong, India’s Mohun Bagan or Singapore’s Tampines Rovers.

Shandong will meet the winner of the Rovers and Mohun preliminary Champions League clash a week before United takes centre stage.

Reds defender Tarek Elrich thinks favoured Shandong will be Adelaide’s opponent and he is hoping SA turns up a dose of summer heat for the Chinese club which will still be in preseason mode and in the height of their cold winter.

Elrich played in the 2009 Champions League when he was a Newcastle Jet.

“Adelaide was the first team to do very well in the Champions League in 2008 reaching the final before Western Sydney won it (last year),’’ Elrich said.

“There is going to be a lot of pressure on Australian teams there is a high expectation.

“The good thing is the first play off game is we’re still in season.

“We’ll be at our peak in fitness and they (Shandong) are just starting their season.

“We want to do well, it’s massive and we want to go one better than 2008.

“We do have the home ground advantage and I hope it’s hot for the match.”

Elrich is currently battling an ankle injury he picked up during Sunday’s 1-0 win over Perth Glory at Coopers Stadium on Sunday.

Whether he will be fit enough for Friday’s important clash against Sydney FC at Coopers Stadium is in the hands of fate.

Elrich says Adelaide is striving for consecutive wins after breaking its winless duck at the weekend.

“With (coach) Graham (Arnold’s) teams they concentrate a lot on defending,’’ he said.

“We’re at home, there’s a short turnaround which doesn’t make it easy but we can take this game to Sydney, stick to the game plan that we’ve been working on for so long and hopefully we can get another win.”

Originally published as Adelaide United a chance to meet its Chinese soccer ‘sister’ Shandong Luneng in Champions League