South African coach Pitso Mosimane has made a big admission about his next assignment for his Esteghlal side, which comes in the form of a match against his former employers Al Ahli Jeddah in the AFC Champions League.
Mosimane will be emotionally charged when he returns to King Abdullah Sport City in Jeddah with Iranian outfit Esteghlal on Monday.
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He helped Al Ahli gain automatic promotion to the Saudi Pro League at the first time of asking in 2022/23.
However, although the side faced financial difficulties and could not pay Mosimane and his staff salaries for several months, the decision not to retain the South African contingent ahead of the current campaign in the Saudi Pro League cut the Kagiso native coach deep.
This, especially after the Jeddah outfit bought global superstars such as Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and looked for a 'high-profile' coach.
The three-time CAF Champions League winner, who successfully sued Al Ahli a reported R22,2 million, has noted the difference in quality between the two sides, ahead of a 18:00 kick-off on Tuesday.
The Saudi side sit top of the west region standings with five wins from five, while Esteghlal are seventh on the log, 11 points behind.
"There are big differences because of the stars in the Saudi clubs, but this is football, and we will do what we can despite the big differences," Mosimane said in a pre-match press conference.
"I have good memories with Al Ahli, and tomorrow's match will be full of emotions because we are human beings, but we are professionals and life has many stages.
"I know that the match against Al Ahli will be difficult for us, but we will be happy if we succeed in achieving victory. However, we must be honest and realistic that beating Al-Ahli is not an easy matter.
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"The Esteghlal team believes in its ability to win, and we did not come here just to visit, but we came to give our best for our fans, so we will do our best to achieve a positive result," the former Bafana Bafana coach added.
In a 12-team table, eight highly ranked teams qualify for the round of 16, along with top eight sides in the east stream.