CAF Champions League: Hearts of Oak’s Emmanuel Nettey optimistic ahead of Wydad clash

Hearts of Oak midfielder Emmanuel Nettey is in a confident mood ahead of their CAF Champions League clash with Wydad Casablanca.

The one-time African champions are underdogs going into Sunday’s match against the Moroccan champions.

Hearts needed two late goals to beat Guinean side CI Kamsar in a single match to advance to the second qualifying round.

Wydad were not involved in the first round because of their recent exploits in the competition. They were crowned champions in 2017 and have reached the semi-final in the last two seasons.

“So far I think it’s been good. In our first game against Kamsar, we were able to overcome them by winning 2-0 and we’re progressing. Now we have a much tougher opposition in WAC but I think it’s not too much of a hurdle to cross.

We are going to do our best considering the training sessions we’ve had with our technical team. I think everything is going the right way for us Sunday. We’re going to deliver,” Nettey said to Joy Sports.

Nettey was an injury doubt but has been fully cleared to play on Sunday at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Only 2,000 spectators have been approved by CAF to attend the game at the 40,000-seater capacity stadium.

Although it is a small number, striker Daniel Afriyie Barnieh is happy their fans will be there to cheer them on.

The Ghanaian champions played Kamsr in an empty stadium because of coronavirus.

“They’ve missed us, and we too we’ve missed them. They’ve missed seeing us on the field of play and we have also missed them in the stands.

So what I will tell them is that they should keep on praying and support us, and come in their numbers on Sunday. I think we are not going to disappoint them, we will make them proud on Sunday. When we see our fans the morale and everything comes up,” Barnieh said to Joy Sports.

Wydad arrived in Ghana on Friday night.

The winner of the tie will progress to the group stage of the competition.