Germany legend Oliver Kahn watches Al-Hilal train ahead of crunch AFC Champions League clash

Al-Hilal were given a boost ahead of their mouthwatering AFC Champions League tie with Al-Ain this week when German great Oliver Kahn popped in to observe training and offer moral support.

Kahn dropped in at the King Saud University Stadium and watched Al-Hilal coach Ramon Diaz put his team through their paces in the build-up to Tuesday’s Group D match in the Kingdom with the UAE giants.

The 48-year-old, who won the UEFA Champions League in 2001, paid particular attention to the work of Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Abdullah Al-Mayouf who was being put through a series of drills by Dan Zdranca, Al-Hilal’s Romanian goalkeeping coach. Kahn was then presented with a club jersey and memorial shield by vice president Abdulrahman Al-Nimer to mark his visit to the club.

Kahn, who retired from playing in 2008, already has an association with Saudi Arabia. He runs his own company, GoalPlay, with business partner Moritz Mattes and signed a partnership agreement with the Saudi Arabia Football Federation to help improve the level of goalkeeping in the Kingdom with one eye on this summer’s World Cup.

“We as GoalPlay are working together with the Saudi national team to try to help improve them before the World Cup in Russia,” Kahn told Arab News in an interview in November “It’s our job to bring them up to the best possible level of goalkeeping. This is day one essentially. We start now.”