Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Jeddah: Al Ahli moved to the top of Group C on goal difference after they came from a goal down to beat Al Nasr 3-1 at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium on Wednesday.
The visitors from the United Arab Emirates had taken a surprise half-time lead when Amara Diane headed home in the 33rd minutes.
But Abdulrahim Jezawi levelled for the hosts 10 minutes after the break before goals by Victor Simoes and Kamil Al Mousa completed a deserved win for the Saudl League runners-up.
The win helped the Jeddah club to move level on seven points with Sepahan, who lost 1-0 to Qatari champions Lekhwiya earlier on Wednesday. Lekhwiya have six points while Al Nasr have three with two rounds of games left.
Al Ahli beat Al Nasr 2-1 in Dubai a fortnight ago and they began the match strongly in front of their home fans with Brazilian midfielder Marcelo Camacho going close in the 17th minute with a shot from just outside the box which was stopped by Al Nasr goalkeeper Abdulla Moosa.
But the deadlock was broken by the away side just after the half-hour mark. A free-kick taken by Mohamed Ali from 35 metres out picked out Diane and the Cote d'Ivoire forward headed past Al Ahli goalkeeper Abdullah Al Muaiouf for his fourth goal of the tournament.
The home side thought that they had drawn level six minutes before half-time when Simoes headed in a cross by Camacho only for the effort to be chalked off for offside.
They continued to push for the equaliser after the interval and their pressure finally told in the 55th minute when Jezawi's powerful low shot from 20 metres found its way through a crowd of players and went into the Al Nasr net despite Moosa getting a hand to the ball.
Mahmoud Hassan Darwish tried his luck from similar range for Al Nasr shortly afterwards without success and it was the hosts that would score again in the 66th minute as Camacho's delightful cross from the left found an unmarked Simoes who rose high to meet the ball with a powerful header that gave Moosa no chance.
The result was put beyond doubt seven minutes later when Camacho's free-kick from the right was turned in by Al Mousa.
Al Ahli coach Karel Jarolim was frustrated by his side's wasteful finishing in the first half but felt much better after he had seen them take their chances after the interval.
"In the first half I felt that we did not play well as we had many chances but we couldn't score," said the Czech. "I spoke to them at half-time and I was glad to see that in the second half, they continued to create chances and play well and score the goals.
"It was a good result for us and four our fans who gave us good support today. Now we have seven points and we are on top of the group and we can try in our next match against Lekhwiya to get another win which will send us into the next round."
Meanwhile, Al Nasr coach Walter Zenga admitted that his team had been beaten by a better side.
"Al Ahli are a very good team and they played like champions tonight," said the Italian. "We played very well in the first half and took the lead but in the second half, they were the better team and got their three goals. Some of them were caused by mistakes by our players but they took their chances well."
Photo: AFP