ACL RD16: Naft Tehran 1-0 Al Ahli [VIDEO]

AFC – TEHRAN, Naft Tehran will take a one-goal lead into the second leg of their AFC Champions League Round of 16 tie with Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli after handing the visitors a 1-0 defeat on Wednesday.

Iran international Gholamreza Rezaei (pictured) scored the only goal of a tight game in the 34th minute to ensure the second leg in Jeddah next Wednesday will be a tense affair.

Naft dominated for much of the 90 minutes but were unable to add to Rezeai’s solitary strike in front of their own fans in Tehran.

The home side sent an early message to their visitors inside the first minute when Abdullah Al Muaiouf had to react sharply to Vahid Amiry’s miss-hit centre, with the goalkeeper only just doing enough to stop the ball from crossing the line.

That was to prove a rare moment of excitement in the opening 30 minutes as both teams were reduced to trying their luck from long range in a tentative first half hour.

Hossein Ebrahimi’s attempt from distance was well wide for Naft while, at the other end, Mustafa Al Bassas sent his shot over the bar before Taiseer Al Jassem forced Alireza Neiranvand into action, with the Naft goalkeeper dropping to collect the long-range effort.

At the other end, Ebrahimi prompted Al Muaiouf into action in the 32nd minute with his attempt from the edge of the penalty area and, just two minutes later, the Iranians took the lead.

Again Ebrahimi was involved, lifting the ball into the penalty area and into the path of Amiry, whose first time centre was flicked home by Rezaei with his right foot.

Naft threatened to take total command in the second half as Ali Reza Mansourian’s side pushed for a second that never came.

Al Muaiouf used his legs in the 64th minute to keep out Saeid Lotfi’s goal-bound attempt while less than a minute later Rezaei dragged his shot from outside the area across the face of goal.

With 12 minutes remaining the Iranians thought they had doubled their lead when Iman Mobali’s free kick from 25 yards looked destined for the back of the net, only for Al Muaiouf to push the ball onto post and leave Naft with just the one-goal cushion with another 90 minutes to play.