Olunga's Duhail kick off Champions League preparations

Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga and Al Duhail have stepped up preparations ahead of the AFC Champions League set to kick off on April 7 in Saudi Arabia when the Western Region matches start.

Duhail start their campaign on April 7 against Al Taawoun, before playing Sepahan, and finally Pakhtakor for the first round of matches on April 10 and April 14 respectively.

The Kenyan will be gunning for a second top scorer gong in competition in a row after winning the award in the last edition having scored nine goals despite Duhails elimination at the group stage, earning himself a place in the AFC Champions League team of the season.

All group stage matches in the competition will be played in Saudi Arabia but in different cities, with Al Duhail playing their matches in Buraidah where all Group D matches will be staged.

The Qatar Stars League runners-up are in the same group with the Iranian side Sepahan, Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor, and Al Taawoun FC from Saudi Arabia.

Last season, Duhail finished second in Group C and thus missed out on the knockout stage in the competition that was eventually won by Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal, and will be out to make amends this season.

Olunga's goals in the last campaign were spread across all six matches in Group C, including a hattrick and a brace both against Iran's Esteghlal Tehran in the back-to-back matches in April.

The former Gor Mahia forward was recently crowned the Qatar Stars League top scorer after netting 24 goals in the concluded season, winning his second personal award with the club.

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