AFC Champions League Elite:
Persepolis well beaten by Al Hilal, drops out of top eight
Persepolis was dealt a major blow in its quest to progress to the AFC Champions League Elite last-16 after a 4-1 defeat against Saudi heavyweight Al Hilal in Riyadh on Tuesday.
Brazilian Malcom put the home side in front with 10 minutes into the game at the jam-packed Kingdom Arena, picking the ball up from just inside his own half and surging unchallenged into the box before his dink went past the advancing goalkeeper Alexis Guendouz.
The Algerian keeper then failed to deal with a low effort from Joao Cancelo from the edge of the box, as the Portuguese fullback doubled Al Hilal’s lead in the 25th minute.
Malcom slipped Salem Al Dawsari through with the skipper evading Guendouz to tuck away from a tight angle in the 39th minute, before the Saudi international got his second of the night with a stunning strike from outside the box in the first-half added time, delivering a damning verdict of the widening gap between the two nations’ club football.
Turkish head coach Ismail Kartal, who was in charge of the Tehran Reds’ bench for only a second game, made three halftime changes to his surprising starting XI, bringing in Giorgio Gvelesiani, Saied Mehri and Farshad Ahmadzadeh for Mohammad Khodabandelou, Masoud Rigi, and Yassin Salmani, though it did little to change his side’s fortune around.
The home side took its foot off the gas in the second half, while the visitors kept fighting for their reputation and managed to reduce the damage through Gvelesiani’s consolation goal from the spot in the 90th minute.
A sixth win in seven games helped Al Hilal move back atop the West Zone’s 12-team table with 19 points, with Persepolis dropping to ninth place on six points, trailing city rival Esteghlal on goal difference ahead of the final round of the league phase fixtures.
Kartal went on to admit after the game that his team struggled against Al Hilal’s quality, especially in the first half.
“In the first half, we couldn’t play as we wanted. Every ball that came into our area was dangerous, and we conceded goals. The team dropped mentally, and we had three, four players injured.
“We made some changes and altered the system in the second half. The players played with more confidence, and we didn’t make as many individual mistakes,” added the former Fenerbahce coach.
Al Hilal boss Jorge Jesus, meanwhile, was all smiles after his team’s first-half masterclass, saying: “After leading by four goals, we started playing at a lower pace in the second half, and there is no team that plays 90 minutes at a high pace except on the PlayStation.”
“I remember that since I joined the team, we have only lost three matches. All the players are equally important to me,” said the Portuguese.
Earlier in the day, a first-half strike by Ferjani Sassi was enough to see Al Gharafa hand Pakhtakor a 1-0 defeat in Doha and move up to seventh in the table with seven points.
With Saudi trio Al Hilal, Al Ahli, and Al Nassr, plus Al Sadd of Qatar and Emirati outfit Al Wasl having secured their place in the next round, the battle for the remaining three knockout spots in the West will go down to the wire between Al Rayyan (eight points), Al Gharafa (seven points), Esteghlal (six points), Persepolis (six points), and Pakhtakor (four points) in two weeks’ time.
Persepolis will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s humiliation when welcoming Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr to the Azadi Stadium on February 17.
Pakhtakor will face Al Sadd in Tashkent on the same day, with Al Gharafa visiting Jeddah to take on Al Ahli.
Esteghlal, which was held to a 1-1 draw against Al Shorta at home on Monday, will visit Al Rayyan on February 18, with even a single point – if other results on the preceding night go its way – likely to be enough to send the Tehran Blues through.