Al Ahli Coach Gross Rues Missed Chances against Iran's Naft
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Al Ahli Coach Christian Gross said his team failed to take advantage of its chances against Iran's Nafe Tehran in the AFC Champions League Round of 16 on Wednesday.
The Saudi Arabian team defeated Naft 2-1 but was knocked out of the competition on the away goals rule after the aggregate score finished in a 2-2 draw.
"The players put a lot of effort in the match despite the exit from the competition," said the Swiss coach. "We had an excellent performance in the first half but in the second period, the performance of the players dropped and they were tired.
"We didn't take advantage of the chances that we created as we had several chances to score. Despite conceding an early goal in the first half, we made a good comeback and scored two goals but it wasn't enough for us."
"We had to continue our pressure in the match but our replacements didn't have as good a performance as we expected," Gross told the-afc. "We hope that we can draw some lessons from the competition and that we can have better results in the future."
