Al Nassr Defeats Esteghlal in 2024-25 ACL Elite
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Esteghlal football team lost to Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia 3-0 in the second leg of their AFC Champions League Elite 2024/25 Round of 16 tie Monday night.
In the match, held at the King Saud University Stadium, Jhon Duran struck twice and Cristiano Ronaldo once.
Al Nassr - seeking to win the title for the first time - advanced 3-0 on aggregate and will know its quarter-final opponent in Monday’s draw.
The breakthrough came in the ninth minute when Duran capitalised on Hossein Hosseini’s careless pass, calmly lobbing the ball over Esteghlal’s keeper.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s persistence paid off when he intercepted Raphael Silva’s poor back pass and cut it back to Sadio Mane, who was brought down by Mohammad Zobeir Niknafs inside the penalty box with Ronaldo slotting home the spot-kick.
The situation went from bad to worse for Esteghlal after Mehran Ahmadi was sent off for a second yellow for a foul on Al Fatil just before the halftime.
Duran, a livewire all night, deservingly settled the tie in the 84th minute after collecting Angelo’s pass inside the six-yard-box to strike home into the bottom left corner.
