We could have had six says Gerets

AFC – RIYADH, Al Hilal could have easily scored six in Wednesday’s comfortable 3-1 AFC Champions League Group D win over Iran’s Mes Kerman according to coach Eric Gerets.

Christian Wilhelmsson opened the scoring for Al Hilal after just three minutes at the King Fahd International Stadium before the Swedish midfielder helped on a corner for defender Osama Hawsawi to double the lead 12 minutes later.

After Thiago Neves missed a second-half penalty for Al Hilal Yasser Al Qahtani grabbed his third goal of the tournament in just two games before Ali Samereh netted a stoppage time consolation for Mes.

“We missed six to seven really good chances,” said Belgian coach Gerets. “And if we converted these the score could have been double.”

After following up their opening day win over Al Sadd, Al Hilal top the table with a 100% record three points clear of Mes and Qatar’s Al Sadd, who demolished Al Ahli 5-0 in Dubai with the UAE side the next to visit the King Fahd International Stadium in two weeks.

Gerets added: “We will be keen to win the next match to add three more points which would give us the priority in the other matches in the group.”

Mes are currently third from bottom in the current Iran Pro League and coach Luka Bonacic had insisted before the match the domestic campaign was his main short term priority, although the Croatian did admit the Iranians still had their sights of securing at least second place in Group D to qualify for the last 16.

After conceding twice inside the opening 15 minutes the visitors improved towards the end of the first half and continued to establish themselves after half-time.

And Saman Safa’s penalty save from Thiago on the hour mark appeared to hand Mes hope until Al Qahtani finally converted to kill of the contest in the closing stages after missing several chances in the second half.

The contest did end of a bright note for Mes as Samereh capitalised on a defensive mistake from Hawsawi in stoppage time to race clear and beat Al Hilal goalkeeper Mohammad Al Deayea.

“My team lack enough experience in such matches but with time we will get enough of it,” said Bonacic.

“We missed the services of our two Brazilian players and because of that my team’s performance was not satisfactory.

“But we will have a surprise for Al Hilal in Iran.”