Tractorsazi 0-1 Al Shabab

AFC – TABRIZ, Sebastian Tagliabue scored a late breakaway goal as Al Shabab of Saudi Arabia became the first team to book their place in the AFC Champions League Round of 16 with a narrow win over Tractorsazi Tabriz of Iran at the Yadegar Emam Stadium on Wednesday.

The visitors withstood intense pressure from the home side in the second half and snatched all three points when the Argentinian streaked clear of the Tractorsazi defence five minutes from time and coolly slid the ball past goalkeeper Mehdi Sabeti to seal his team’s second 1-0 win over the Iranian club in a little over a week following their victory last Tuesday in Riyadh.

The win saw unbeaten Al Shabab move up to 10 points, five clear of second-placed El Jaish of Qatar, who were held to a 1-1 draw by Al Jazira of the United Arab Emirates earlier in the day.

They are now six points clear of third-placed Tractorsazi, who cannot overtake them due to the Saudi club’s superior record in their head-to-head matches.

“It was a very tough game for both teams; we were under a lot of pressure, they did very good pressing,” said Al Shabab coach Michel Preud’homme.

“In the second half, we reduced their pressure, if fact we were more looking for a single point. But every ball we grabbed turned into a chance for us in the second period. We controlled the game a lot better.

“My players had never played in such atmosphere. It was so dangerous for us but I’m glad the fans didn’t affect us a lot. Even one point from this game would have satisfied us, but of course I’m a lot happier with the win which gives us a good the lead in the table.”

The visitors could have gone ahead after only 10 minute as Nassir Al Shamrani, the match winner in Riyadh last week, missed a glorious opportunity, heading wastefully over the crossbar after the ball had taken a deflection off a defender and looped invitingly towards him 12 metres from goal.

In a lively opening half, Masoud Ebrahimzadeh dragged a shot wide from the edge of the box and Mehdi Seyed-Salehi headed just off target from close range for the home side while at the other end, a long-range drive by Marcelo Camacho was tipped over by Sabeti.

While the first half was fairly even, Tractorsazi dominated possession after the break and they nearly took the lead in the 53rd minute when Mohammad Iranpourian sent in a wicked cross-shot from the right flank that nearly caught out goalkeeper Waleed Abdullah, who just managed to tip the ball over his crossbar.

Flávio Paixão had a big opportunity to break the deadlock with 14 minutes left when a cross from the right by Iranpourian was flicked towards the Portuguese midfielder by Seyed-Salehi but he could not get his shot on target.

Sabeti was kept alert as he turned aside a fierce drive from nearly 40 metres by Omar Al Ghamdi but much of the action was still at the other end as Abdullah made good saves to deny substitute Geilson (Geílson de Carvalho Soares) and veteran defender Mohammad Nosrati.

But with just five minutes left, the visitors would net the winning goal as a long through ball caught out the Tractorsazi defence, who allowed Tagliabue to gallop through before he calmly slipped the ball past a helpless Sabeti into the bottom corner of the net.

“Today was an unusual day for us. In the first period, we were balanced but in the latter, we failed to create scoring chances although we were very unlucky to concede in the final minutes on a counter attack,” said Tractorsazi coach Antonio Oliveira.

“We still have two matches left, meaning that we have the opportunity to fight for a spot in the next stage. I’m content with the performance of my players; they fought well, they endeavoured a lot and they should keep their heads up.

“Their keeper made some good saves but at the end of the day, they scored the winning goal on a counter attack which won them three points.”