AlNassr Visit Tehran
The 1st Leg of the Round of 16 in the AFC Champions League Elite, between Saudi Club ALNassr and Iranian Club Esteghlal FC was played last night at the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran. the visitors AL-Nassr, the favourites, were looking to seal the first leg in the away encounter and take home the advantage. The Saudis were without their talismanic legend Cristiano Ronaldo, was the big news of the encounter.
AlNassr Dominate But Are Denied
The match could well be described as a tale of two halves. The first half was dominated by AlNassr, with their new signing Jhon Duran making some good runs and in the 21st minute, Al-Nassr should have scored. Duran produced a fine strike only to be saved by Esteghlal keeper Hossein Hosseini. the rebound fell on the feet of Ayman Yahya with an open goal in front of him. However, Rouzbeh Cheshmi produced a fine goal line clearance to deny Al-Nassr. Esteghlal did produce some meaningful moves in the second half but did not look sharp to bother the defence of Al-Nassr.
A Cagey Affair In The End
The match was a cagey affair and though AL-Nassr did dominate possession ( they had 65% of the ball ) and had 17 shots on goal, a breakthrough just did not arrive. Sadio Mane too was a bit off colour last night. The flair and energy of Cristiano Ronaldo was unavailable for Al-Nassr, which in my opinion made a big difference.
Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh To Host The Decider
With this goalless draw, the teams would meet again in the 2nd leg on the 10th of March at the Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh. The game will decide which team goes through to the quarter finals.
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