Shabab Al Ahli advance at ACL Elite despite loss

Al Ahli Saudi FC defeated Shabab Al Ahli 4-3 in their concluding AFC Champions League (ALC) Elite tie at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium on Monday.

The victory for the defending champions means Al Ahli look set to finish second in the standings while defeat didn’t prove costly for Shabab Al Ahli as they were confirmed of their Round of 16 spot following fellow UAE side Sharjah FC’s shock defeat to PFC Nasaf of Uzbekistan.

The match got off to a scrappy start, with neither side hitting their stride in the opening minutes as Al Ahli’s Ziyad Al Johani rattled the crossbar from distance and his keeper Abdulrahman Alsanbi saving comfortably from Yahya Al Ghassani on the other end.

The Saudi Arabia side soon began to dominate possession, and Feras Al Brikan put them ahead in the 12th minute when he turned in a cross from Riyad Mahrez, who put in some brilliant work on the right flank to deliver a pin-point pass to the striker to slam home from close range.

Shabab Al Ahli, needing victory to confirm qualification, did their best to get back into the game, but their strike force failed to get going, Bogdan Planic sending his header wide from inside the area in the 22nd minute only their second look at goal.

Al Ahli doubled their advantage in the 35th minute in the most unexpected way when Shabab Al Ahli keeper Abdulla Almeqbaali fumbled the ball after a rollback from Planic, and despite his efforts, could only watch in dismay as it rolled past him into the bottom left corner.

They extended their lead three minutes into time added on in the first half when Zakaria Hawsawi burst down the left and cut back to Enzo Millot, whose strike from the edge of the area deflected off Shabab Al Ahli midfielder Nemanja Maksimov and past a flat-footed Almeqbaali.

The visitors opened the second half with Saeid Ezatolahi forcing an instinctive save from Alsanbi but it was Al Ahli who again scored first after a VAR review judged that Yahya Al Ghassani had handled the ball, with Al Shamat confidently converting the resulting spot-kick in the 52nd minute.

Al Ahli continued to keep their opponents’ back-pedalling, but Shabab Al Ahli responded strongly when Breno Cascardo, who had stepped on just five minutes earlier, fired powerfully from the edge of the area in the 66th minute past a diving Alsanbi into the bottom left corner.

Breno further reduced his side’s deficit 12 minutes later when he came down the left following a fast break and went around two defenders and Alsanbi before slotting the ball into the bottom right corner, with his teammate Mohammad Juma adding the third five minutes into time added on but that was to be it as Matthias Jaissle’s Al Ahli took the points.

Nunez double keeps Al Hilal unbeaten in ACL: Saudi Pro League leaders Al Hilal secured a 2-1 win over Al Wahda of the UAE in Riyadh to move into the knockout rounds with the competition’s only remaining unbeaten record.

Former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez scored twice for Simone Inzaghi’s side, including the 77th-minute winner, as the four-times champions finished on top of the western group phase standings with seven wins and a draw from eight matches.