The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) al-Ahli stunned Iran’s Naft Tehran, with Lima’s 62nd-minute goal giving them a 1-0 win to boost their semi-final chances in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday
At the Azadi Stadium in Tehran, former Benfica player Lima scored the only goal of the match with a diving header to give the Emiratis the upper hand ahead of their quarter-final second leg on Sept. 16 in Dubai.
Coached by Cosmin Olaroiu, al-Ahli are aiming to become only the second UAE side to win the lucrative tournament, after al-Ain claimed the inaugural title in 2003.
Photo: AFP
Naft Tehran had their chances but were constantly under pressure from al-Ahli, especially in the second half, and conceded the advantage just after the one hour mark when Brazilian Lima came up with a fine header after the ball was flicked into the 6m box by Walid Abbas off a corner taken by Everton Ribeiro.
Earlier, Lima had missed a fine scoring chance, heading just wide from a perfect pass from the right by Ribeiro.
Al-Ahli survived two close calls immediately afterward, but held on to clinch the advantage when they play the second leg in front of their home fans next month.
Earlier on Wednesday, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors and Gamba Osaka played out a scoreless draw in the first leg in Seoul.
In an entertaining match, Jeonbuk captain Lee Dong-gook missed the best opportunity of the game midway through the second half, turning the ball narrowly wide of an open goal
The teams are to meet again in the return match in Japan, also on Sept. 16, with the winners advancing to meet either Chinese champions Guangzhou
Evergrande or Japan’s Kashiwa Reysol in the semi-finals.
Guangzhou are in firm control of that tie after a 3-1 win at Kashiwa in the first leg on Tuesday.
Jeonbuk won a 3-2 thriller when they last hosted Gamba in the competition nine years ago and the South Korean side dominated possession in the opening half, outshooting their opponents by a wide margin.
However, they could not find a way through the visitors’ defense with Lee, the competition’s all-time leading scorer with 27 goals, missing their best chance just before halftime when he headed Choi Chul-soon’s cross narrowly wide.
Gamba came more into the game after the interval and nearly broke the deadlock in the 58th minute with a shot on the turn by Patric that went just off-target.
However, the best opportunity fell to the hosts in the 65th minute, when they carved open the Gamba defense on a swift counter-attack initiated by Luiz Henrique on the left.
The Brazilian played in Park Won-jae, who turned the ball past goalkeeper Masaaki Higashiguchi to an unmarked Lee. He stretched to make contact with the ball, but failed to turn it into the gaping goal.
Higashiguchi was called into action with 12 minutes left when he made a fine stop to turn aside Leonardo’s fierce low drive from 25m.
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