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Action from the AFC Champions League match between Qatar’s Lekhwiya and Saudi’s Al Nassr which was played at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh yesterday.
By Agencies/Riyadh
Lekhwiya sealed top spot in Group A of the 2015 AFC Champions League yesterday with a comprehensive 3-1 win over Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr at the King Fahd International Stadium, with Korea Republic international Nam Tae-hee the star of the show.
Nam scored one, set up another and won the penalty for the third against an Al Nassr side that played the final 40 minutes with 10 men following Omar Hawsawi’s 50th minute sending off.
Youssef Msakni put Lekhwiya in front before Nam doubled his side’s lead only for Hassan Al Raheb to pull one back just before half time.
But Sebastian Soria’s penalty in the 58th minute put the result beyond any doubt as the Qataris finished with a comfortable cushion at the top of Group A.
Michael Laudrup’s side will now face compatriots Al Sadd in the Round of 16 and the Qatar Stars League champions will be a confident frame of mind after an impressive performance against the Riyadh-based club.
Lekhwiya went into the halftime break leading after a pulsating 45 minutes in which Al Nassr started brightest before two goals in four minutes saw the Qataris race into the lead.
Omar Hawsawi and Adrian Mierzejewski both forced Lekhwiya goalkeeper Amine Lacomte into action in the first 15 minutes while Al Raheb sent his effort across the face of goal just two minutes later as the home side dominated.
But, in the 28th minute and against the run of play, Lekhwiya took the lead when Msakni rose above the Al Nassr defence to head Nam’s corner goalward and Al Nassr keeper Abdullah Al Enezi was unable to keep the effort from crossing the line.
Four minutes later, the Qatari club doubled their advantage, with Nam netting a fine finish after playing a one-two with Msakni whose ball over the top left the Al Nassr defence flatfooted allowing the Korean to clip his effort home.
Lekhwiya’s quick-fire double salvo forced a reaction from an Al Nassr side needing to win to progress to the knockout phase of the competition and, by the 36th minute, the Saudis had halved the deficit.
Fabian Estoyanoff played the ball over the Lekhwiya defence to Adrian and his cutback into the centre was somehow turned over the line by Al Raheb despite the attention of two defenders.
The goal gave Al Nassr a lifeline, but that was severed five minutes after the restart when Hawsawi was shown a direct red card for upending Soria on the edge of the penalty area after the Saudi defender had needlessly given the ball away deep in his own half.
Eight minutes later the result was sealed when the lively Nam was felled by Bahraini defender Mohamed Husain and referee Kim Jong-hyeok had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot, from where Soria emphatically hammered the final nail into Al Nassr’s knockout phase hopes.
Round of 16 fixtures
West Asia Zone
Al Sadd vs Lekhwiya
1st leg - 19 May, 2nd Leg - 26 May
Persepolis (Iran) vs Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia)
1st leg - 19 May, 2nd Leg - 26 May
Al Ahli (UAE) vs Al Ain (UAE)
1st leg - 20 May, 2nd Leg -27 May
Naft Tehran (Iran) vs Al-Ahli (Saudi Arabia)
1st leg - 20 May, 2nd Leg -27 May
East Asia Zone
Suwon Samsung Bluewings (South Korea) vs Kashiwa Reysol (Japan)
1st leg - 19 May, 2nd Leg - 26 May
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (South Korea) vs Beijing Guoan (China)
1st leg - 19 May, 2nd Leg - 26 May
FC Seoul (South Korea) vs Gamba Osaka (Japan)
1st leg - 20 May, 2nd Leg -27 May
Seongnam FC (South Korea) vs Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao
1st leg - 20 May, 2nd Leg -27 May
Results
Collated results from the AFC Champions League yesterday:
Group A
Lekhwiya (QAT) 3 (Yousef Msakni 27, Nam Tae-hee 32, Sebastian Soria 58) Al Nassr (KSA) 1 (Hassan al-Rahab 36)
Persepolis (IRN) 2 (Mohamed Noori 49, Obid Djurabayev 72-og) Bunyodkor (UZB) 1 (Sardor Rashidov 61)
Group B
Pakhtakor (UZB) 0 Al Shabab (KSA) 2 (Mousa al-Shamri 6, Abdulla al-Asta 67-pen)
Al Ain (UAE) 3 (Omar Abdulrahman 63, Asamoah Gyan 74, Jires Kembo-Ekoko 86 Naft Tehran (IRN) 0
Group E
Jeonbuk Motors (KOR) 4 (Lee Jae-Sung 26, Kim Hyung-Il 52, Eninho 80-pen, Edu 88) Shandong Luneng (CHN) 1 (Wang Tong 45+1)
Binh Duong (VIE) 1 (Vinh 56) Kashiwa Reysol (JPN) 0
Group F
Gamba Osaka (JPN) 2 (Usami 64, Lins 82) Seongnam FC (KOR) 1 (Hwang 15)
Buriram United (THA) 5 (Diogo 12, 38, 57, Tunez 36, Macena 60) Guangzhou R&F (CHN) 0
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