Al Duhail defeat Al Wahda in AFC Champions League
UAE, April 18, 2018 - Qatar's Al Duhail completed the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage with an impressive 100 percent record, after Abdelrahman Fahmi's goal gave them a 1-0 win over Al Wahda of the UAE at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Tuesday.
Al Duhail head coach Djamel Belmadi handed starts to a number of youngsters and one of them almost repaid his trust in the 21st minute. Abdullah al-Ahrak had a free header following Mourad Naji's cross, but it was saved by Al Wahda keeper Mohamed al-Shamsi.
The reply from the visitors came through star man Balazs Dzsudzsak, who produced two brilliant attempts in the space of one minute. First, the Hungarian sent a scorching effort at goal from 30 yards out, and then, he tried to curl one in directly from a corner. However, Amine Lecomte was alert on both occasions to keep the ball out.
The hosts were handed an advantage in the 39th minute when Al Wahda defender Salem Sultan was sent off after pulling down Youssef El Arabi who was through on goal.
Al Duhail took advantage of their numerical superiority and opened the scoring just two minutes into the second half, as young winger Fahmi netted with aplomb following a fine give-and-go with El Arabi.
The match saw little action at either half thereafter, and only came alive in the 84th minute, when Al Duhail were also reduced to 10 men after Lucas Mendes was shown his marching orders.
The decision had no effect on the result and Al Duhail held on to clinch their sixth straight victory and become just the fourth side in history to win all their group games in the AFC Champions League.
Belmadi's men will now play Group D runners-up Al Ain in the Round of 16.
On other hand, Qatar's Al Gharafa ended their 2018 AFC Champions League journey on a positive note after coming from behind to register a 3-1 win over Iran's Tractorsazi Tabriz Tuesday.
In a battle between two teams, who had already made their exit from the tournament, it was Tractorsazi who showed urgency early on and it was they who made the breakthrough. Just after the half hour mark, the Iranian side took the lead for the first time in this year's campaign after Mohamed Iranpourian dispatched a penalty, which had been awarded for a foul on Amir Arsalan Motahari.
Al Gharafa's attempts to get back into the game were led by Mehdi Taremi, who eked out multiple openings but was denied by Tractorsazi custodian Farzin Karousian on each occasion. Tractorsazi held on to their slim advantage up until the 70th minute, when Al Gharafa turned the game around in the space of seven minutes.
Bulent Uygun's side had Moayed Hassan to thank for it, with the winger first curling in a free-kick over the wall to level the scores before turning provider six minutes later. Taremi's through ball sent Hassan racing through towards an advancing keeper and he duly squared it across for Abdelaziz Hatem to tap into an empty goal.
Taremi then finally got something to show for his efforts on the night, when he sent a fierce strike past Karousian in the 87th minute to make it 3-1 and register his fifth goal of the campaign.
Al Gharafa thus finished level on points with second-placed Al Jazira in Group A, but lost out on a Round of 16 spot due to an inferior head-to-head record with their rivals. Tractorsazi ended up at the bottom of the group after failing to muster a single win throughout the tournament.
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