ACL RD16 (2nd leg): Esteghal 0-0 Shabab Al Arabi (4-2 agg) [VIDEO]

Tehran Times – TEHRAN, Recently-crowned Iranian champions Esteghlal secured a spot in the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League for the first time after they completed a 4-2 aggregate victory over Al Shabab Al Arabi of the United Arab Emirates with a goalless draw at the Azadi Stadium on Wednesday.

The verve that the Tehran giants had shown in Dubai last week when they came from a goal down to beat Al Shabab 4-2, was largely absent in a dour and physical contest littered with fouls and yellow cards.

The closest that ether side came to breaking the deadlock was an effort just before half-time by Al Shabab’s Luiz Henrique that he smashed against the crossbar.

Having been beaten 4-2 at home by Esteghlal in the first leg, the onus was on Al Shabab to get goals but both sides struggled to create clear cut chances throughout the match.

The home side’s best chance to break the deadlock early on came in the 10th minute when Khosro Heydari’s cross from the left found Siavash Akbarpour whose firm header forced goalkeeper Salem Abdulla into a diving save.

Al Shabab needed to score at least three goals to salvage the tie but the closest they came to getting a goal was an effort just a minute before the break by Luiz Henrique who brought down a long pass on the left of the Esteghlal box and launched a right-footed drive that flew past goalkeeper Mehdi Rahmati but came back off the crossbar.

Genuine chances continued to be at a premium in the second half with the hosts controlling much of the possession but creating little in front of goal.

Javad Nekounam should have done better when he headed over in the 57th minute and he then saw his free-kick from the left edge of the Al Shabab box fly high and wide.

With the tie all but settled, the match took a nasty edge in the closing minutes with crunching tackles from both sides resulting in a rash of yellow cards.

The home side thought that they had finally made the breakthrough with 15 minutes left when Hanif Omranzadeh headed into the Al Shabab net only to see his effort disallowed as he was deemed to have been in an offside position when he .

Hassan Ibrahim had one final chance to give Al Shabab a late consolation goal but he sent his late header wide as the match ended goalless.

Below come the highlights from PFDC TV.