ACL MD6: Esteghlal 3-1 Al Rayyan

AFC – TEHRAN, A second-half brace from Boubacar Kebe and a goal from Mohammad Ghazi gave Esteghlal a 3-1 victory over Qatar’s Al Rayyan on Wednesday, as the Iranian giants finished their 2014 AFC Champions League campaign in third place in Group A.

Although two-time Asian Champions Esteghlal missed a penalty in the first-half they opened the scoring eight minutes into the second period through Kebe and five minutes later had doubled their lead through his strike-partner Ghazi.

Burkina Faso forward Kebe got his second with 18 minutes of the tie remaining and although fellow substitute Fahad Khalfan pulled one back for Al Rayyan on 80 minutes, Esteghlal were able to hold on to the lead and claim their second victory of this year’s continental competition.

With both sides keen to shake off the disappointment of having their hopes of a place in the Round of 16 ended last week, the game began in positive fashion with the first chance as early as the fourth minute as Al Rayyan’s Ahmed Al Aaeldin forced Seyed Hosseini into a smart save to his left.

Esteghlal responded, though, and on 25 minutes had a golden chance to go in front as Ghazi was brought down inside the penalty area by a lunging tackle from Saleh Khalid.

However captain Arash Borhani hit his penalty straight at Al Rayyan custodian Soud Abdulla as the home side wasted their opportunity to take the lead and the contest reached half-time goalless.

The game’s first goal was not long in coming after the interval, however, as first-half substitute Kebe volleyed home Pejman Nouri’s cross from the left-hand byline on 53 minutes.

And it only took the hosts a further five minutes to get their second as Al Rayyan failed to clear Iman Mobali’s free-kick and the ball dropped to Ghazi on the penalty spot for the striker to drill a shot into the goal’s top left-hand corner via the underside of the crossbar.

Al Rayyan tried to respond but by now the home side was oozing confidence in their play and the went further in front as Kebe got his brace on 72 minutes with a side-footed effort that Abdulla got a hand to but couldn’t prevent hitting the back of his net.

The visitors did reduce the deficit through Khalfan with 10 minutes of the game remaining as the second-half substitute struck a smart finish across Hosseini into the bottom corner, but it was no more than a consolation as Esteghlal cruised home.