ACL MD4 – Group A: Al Hilal 2-0 Foolad Khouzestan
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Loading...AFC – RIYADH, Reigning AFC Player of the Year Nassir Al Shamrani made his mark as he returned to action in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday, scoring the opener as Al Hilal secured a 2-0 win over Foolad at the King Fahd International Stadium in Group C.
Al Shamrani, who was suspended for the opening three rounds of matches in the group stages, put Al Hilal in front in the 46th minute with a header before Yasir Al Shahrani sealed the win in the 60th minute.
The victory moves Al Hilal level on points at the top of Group C with Al Sadd from Qatar with just two rounds of group matches remaining. Lokomotiv are in third, three points behind and Foolad are a further point behind.
Al Hilal dominated the opening half, and Thiago Neves tried his luck as early as the sixth minute only for the Brazilian to fire wide with his effort from outside the penalty area.
While the home side were on top throughout the opening 45 minutes, the best opening of the half fell to the Iranians when Esmaeil Sharifat beat the offside trap only to see Al Hilal goalkeeper Khalid Sharahili deny him with a fine save.
A minute after the restart, however, Al Hilal went in front when Al Shamrani headed home Salem Al Dawsari’s cross from the left and, as the game reached the hour mark, the Saudis had doubled their lead.
A mistake in defence by Sasan Ansari saw the ball fall to Al Shahrani and he fired off a low shot that gave Alireza Salimi little chance.
Al Hilal held on to take all three points and move onto seven points from four games, the same as Al Sadd. The Saudis travel to Uzbekistan to face Lokomotiv on Matchday Five while Al Sadd host Foolad in a game the Iranians cannot afford to lose.
