ACL MD5 – Group A: Al Ittihad 4-0 Foolad Mobarakeh Sepahan

AFC – DOHA, Two-time AFC Champions League winners Al Ittihad kept their 2016 campaign alive as two goals from Abdulrahman Al Ghamdi helped steer the club to a 4-0 victory over former finalists Sepahan on Wednesday.

The defeat meant the Iranian side, runners-up to Urawa Reds in 2007, cannot advance to the last 16 of the competition while Al Ittihad moved to within two points of second-placed Al Nasr with only one round of Group A matches remaining.

Al Ittihad and Sepahan meet again in two weeks’ time and Victor Piturca’s team must win again to have any chance of overhauling Al Nasr while the win for the Saudis also meant group leaders Lokomotiv will have to wait until Matchday Six before confirming their place in the next phase.

Al Ghamdi scored three minutes into first-half stoppage time and the 2004 and 2005 ACL champions had several other opportunities to add to their haul, but poor finishing allowed the Iranians to stay in contention until Fahad Al Muwallad netted seven minutes from time.

Al Ghamdi then added a third four minutes before the end and Gelmin Rivas completed the rout on the stroke of full time.

Al Ittihad coach Piturca chose not to start with Ghanaian international Sulley Muntari despite the midfielder’s return from suspension while Venezuelan forward Rivas was also left on the bench as the Romanian coach chose to field Saudi Arabia U23 international duo Al Ghamdi and Al Muwallad.

The Saudi side was lively in attack, but were unable to turn their dominance into goals until Al Ghamdi struck deep into first-half stoppage time with a perfectly hit free kick that gave Sepahan goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi little chance.

Four minutes after the restart Al Ittihad went close to claiming a second when the Sepahan defence struggled to clear, allowing Al Muwallad to fire off a goal-bound shot that was hoofed off the line by Habib Gordani.

Sepahan lacked an attacking edge, with Luciano Pereira’s attempted scissor kick summing up their evening when it went meekly wide of the target on the hour mark while, four minutes later, Al Muwallad mesmerised the Iranian defence before pulling his shot narrowly wide.

With seven minutes to go, however, the 21-year-old claimed Al Ittihad’s second when he headed Rivas’ cross from the left past Ahmadi before slotting the ball through to Al Ghamdi, who rolled the ball home to kill off Sepahan three minutes later.

Rivas struck the final blow with normal time having just elapsed, side-footing the ball past Ahmadi with ease.