ACL MD 4: Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal 1- 0 Esteghlal of Iran
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Esteghlal football team of Iran lost to Al Hilal 1-0 in Group C of the 2019 AFC Champions League at the Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday.
Esteghlal had won the previous encounter 2-1 two weeks ago, but Al Hilal remained top of the group with six points going into Matchday Four.
Six minutes into the second half, Nawaf Al Abid picked up a loose ball deep into Esteghlal’s half and sprayed it to Sebastian Giovinco who controlled and rifled from the edge of the box into the top corner for his maiden AFC Champions League goal.
The joy of Al Hilal fans was abruptly ended as Al Abid was shown a red card a minute later for an elbow on Mensha.
Having to play with ten men for over half an hour, Zoran Mamic pulled out attacking midfielder Carlos Eduardo and brought on defensive midfielder Mohammed Kanno to shore things up.
The Croatian tactics delivered the desired outcome as Al Hilal held on to its lead and walked away with crucial three points despite late attempts from Esmail Goncalves and Omid Noorafkan.
The result means Al Hilal need just one point from their remaining two games to book its place in the knockout stage for the ninth time in the past decade. Esteghlal freezes at four points.
