Saudi Arabian clubs al-Shabab and al-Hilal are well positioned to reach the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League after recording wins on Wednesday in the first leg of their quarter-finals.
Al-Shabab won 2-0 at South Korea’s Jeonbuk Hyundai, while al-Hilal dominated al-Gharafa of Qatar in a 3-0 home victory.
Seongnam Ilhwa of South Korea, meanwhile, had a 4-1 home win against domestic rivals Suwon Blue Wings while Iranian club Zob Ahan came away with a win after Mahdi Rajabzadeh converted a 75th-minute penalty to secure a 2-1 victory over defending champs Pohang Steelers of South Korea.
Al-Shabab scored midway through the second half when Fahad Hamad knocked in a rebound and boosted their advantage ahead of the second leg with a goal from Juan Manuel Oliveira.
Al-Hilal dominated much of the match against al-Gharafa and secured the win with goals from Mohammed al-Shalhoub, Ahmed al-Fraidi and Waleed Algizani.
Al-Hilal got things going after 13 minutes, as Thiago Neves passed into the area that the defense failed to clear. The ball fell to Yasser al-Qahtani, who fed al-Shalhoub to score.
Neves flicked a shot wide just after halftime before his freekick was fumbled, allowing al-Fraidi to score.
Al-Hilal completed the win with five minutes left when Algizani beat two defenders and fired a shot into the back of the net.
Seongnam were convincing winners over Suwon.
Dzenan Radoncic opened the scoring in the eighth minute but Yeom Ki-hun equalized for the Blue Wings with a freekick before Mauricio Molina restored Seongnam’s advantage.
Radoncic headed in to make it 3-1 which became 4-1 in the closing stages when So Hong-yeung’s attempt was bundled home.
‘AWFUL PERFORMANCE’: Golden State were always chasing the game after failing to threaten from long range, making just eight of 33 three-point attempts Aaron Gordon on Monday scored 38 points as the Denver Nuggets shrugged off the absence of Nikola Jokic to halt the Golden State Warriors’ seven-game winning streak with a 114-105 victory over their Western Conference rivals. A dazzling display from Gordon inspired what was ultimately a comfortable win for Denver, who were missing regular starters Jokic and Jamal Murray from their lineup. The absentees were barely felt by Denver, who startled the Warriors early at San Francisco’s Chase Center and led for most of the game. The Warriors threatened to stage a late rally after slashing the Nuggets’ fourth-quarter lead from 15 points
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Chris Wood has fired Nottingham Forest into surprise UEFA Champions League contention and now the striker wants to score the goals to help New Zealand make history at the FIFA World Cup. New Zealand are strong favorites to qualify out of the Oceania region over the next week and reach the World Cup for only the third time. At the country’s two previous appearances at the finals, in 1982 and 2010, they have failed to win a match in six attempts. With Wood captaining the side and leading from the front, he told local media yesterday that the current squad can finally deliver
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
RSS