Al Nasr, owned by Cristiano Ronaldo and coach Luis Castro, failed to reach the semi-finals of the Asian Champions League this Monday after being eliminated in the quarters by Al Ain in a tie-breaker tie. penalty.
After winning 1-0 in the first leg played in the United Arab Emirates, Al Ain led Monday’s match by two goals, but Al Nasr, with Portugal internationals Ronaldo and Otavio in full-time play , turned around and the score became 3-2 and the game went into extra time.
In extra time, Al Ain made it 3–3 and again took the lead in a draw, but Al Nasr, who had played one goal less due to Ayman’s sending off, scored a fourth goal in the 98th minute in the 118th minute thanks to Ronaldo. miss and take a penalty.
With the score 3-2 at the end of normal time and 4-3 after extra time in the penalty shoot-out, Al Ain were the stronger team to win 3-1, with Brozovic, Alex Telles and Otavio absent from Luis Castro’s side. only scored thanks to Ronaldo, and the UAE team did not miss any of its three attempts.
In Riyadh, Moroccan Soufiane Rahimi, who had already scored the only goal in the first leg, scored twice, in the 28th and 45th minutes, to give the side coached by Argentine Hernan Crespo a clear advantage in the match.
With a three-goal lead in the two games combined, it was in first-half stoppage time, with the score 45+5, that Gharib cut down Luis Castro’s side, giving the Saudis hope of recovering from their disadvantage.
In the second half, Al Nasr equalized with a strong strike in the 51st minute: Otavio came in from the right and crossed hard, with goalkeeper Khalid Eisa intercepting the ball, but towards his own goal.
Soon after, Ronaldo came close to scoring the third goal to level the scores, but an open goal and close to the goal line saw the Portugal international fire wide of the goal. However, the Saudis took the lead in the 72nd minute thanks to a free-kick from Brazilian Alex Telles, a former Porto player.
With the game tied, the game went into extra time, after which Ayman received a straight red card, reducing the Saudis to 10 players. Soon after, Al Ain moved into third thanks to an Al Shamsi goal, taking advantage of an incredible mistake goalkeeper Raged Al-Najjar, who was unable to cope with a light cross.
With his last breath, Ronaldo was brought down in the box and the Al Nasr captain avoided the maximum penalty of 118, scoring the goal that took the game to a penalty shootout. Al Ain scored three penalties, while only Ronaldo converted for the Saudis, while Brozovic, Alex Telles and Otavio missed.
In the semi-finals, Al Ain will face the winner of the Saudi duel between Jorge Jesus’ Al Hilal and Al Ittihad, with the Portuguese coach’s team having the advantage after winning the first leg at home 2-0. .
The return match will take place on Tuesday and is also attractive because Jorge Jesus’ team is looking for a 28th consecutive victory in official matches, which allows it to remain alone with the world record.
Al Hilal have won 27 games in a row and have already equaled the historic record of Welsh side New Saints set in the 2016/17 season.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.