Ettifaq have secured top spot in the group meaning they will meet the runners-up of Group A in the next stage.

That means they could tackle compatriots Al Hilal but Andone admits he has his fingers crossed that they beat Pakhtakor on Wednesday to finish top of Group A and avoid a match-up with their Saudi league rivals.

"I hope that in the next round, we don’t face Al Hilal. I want to play Pakhtakor," admitted the Romanian.

"Al Hilal are a strong team with a lot of fans and we want to avoid them.

"Because it (this match) is preparation, I will rest some of the key players."

Saudi Arabia have emulated Japan in seeing all four of their representatives reach the knockout stage and Andone predicts the winners of the 2009 ACL could well come from these countries.

"Teams from Korea Republic, Japan and Saudi Arabia have the strongest chances of winning the ACL," he added.

Sepahan go into the match wondering about what might have been amid a period of transition.

Bijan Taheri will be in charge following the resignation of Farhad Kazemi and the Iranian is keen for his side to restore some pride with a win.

"Unfortunately because we lost points in our previous matches this match is just a formality and Sepahan, with all our talents, aren’t going to go through," he said.

"The lack of players and bad luck are the main reasons for our disastrous season in the ACL.

"We went down to 10 men in two important matches and handed the wins to our opponents with our inexperience.

"With all these problems, we want to beat Ettifaq to win back our dignity and leave the ACL with happy memories, which is why we’ll be playing our strongest team.

"We’ve nothing to lose but we want our fans to show their support so we can beat a strong team and win in front of them."