Mes go down to Saudi giants

AFC – RIYADH, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal continued their impressive start to the AFC Champions League with a 3-1 win over Iran’s Mes Kerman in Group D on Wednesday.

Christian Wilhelmsson (pictured) opened the scoring after just three minutes at the King Fahd International Stadium before Osama Hawsawi headed home 12 minutes later.

And after wasting several chances in the second half Yasser Al Qahtani sealed the win with nine minutes remaining as Al Hilal followed up their opening day win over Qatar’s Al Sadd before Ali Samereh grabbed a stoppage-time consolation for Mes.

Al Hilal made a flying start as Wilhelmsson beat the Mes offside trap on the edge of the area following Thiago Neves’ defence splitting through ball and coolly lifted the ball over goalkeeper Saman Safa before tapping into the unguarded net after the custodian could only help the deft effort towards goal.

And Wilhelmsson played his part in Al Hilal’s second as the Swedish midfielder helped on a near post corner for an unmarked Hawsawi to guide a downward header past Safa from the edge of the six yard area.

Al Qahtani should have added a third 12 minutes later but after being played in by Wilhelmsson on the edge of the area but Safa raced off his line to smoother at the feet of the Saudi Arabia international striker.

Mes almost got back into the contest but Hawsawi raced back to recover and clear Milad Sheikhfakhroddini’s shot off the line after the striker had beaten the Al Hilal offside trap and rounded goalkeeper Mohammad Al Deayea.

The Al Hilal goalkeeper almost handed the visitors a way back into the contest four minutes before the break after failing to hold a well-struck shot from Brazilian striker Paulo Zaltron, but recovered in time as Mahdi Rajabzadeh closed in.

Al Deayea was called into action at the start of the second half as Mes came out fighting after the break, although he was at fault with a scrambling save from Samereh after failing to hold a long range shot.

Despite Mes’ strong start to the second half Al Hilal were presented with a chance to extend their lead on the hour mark after Safa upended a flying Al Qahtani inside the penalty area.

But Safa redeemed himself as the Mes custodian turned Thiago Neves’ low but poorly struck spot kick onto the outside of the post.

Al Qahtani twice headed wide in quick succession for Al Hilal just after the hour mark, but netted his third goal of the campaign in the closing stages from a tight angle after seeing his initial shot following a strong run only partially blocked by a defender.

Hawsawi was at fault for Mes’ stoppage-time consolation as the defender failed to deal with a long ball over the top and Samereh raced clear to beat Al Deayea.