ACL MD6: Al Fateh 1-5 Foolad Khouzestan [VIDEO]

AFC – AL HASSA, Brazilian forward Chimba netted a first-half hat-trick that included two penalties as Foolad Khouzestan rounded off their Group B campaign in impressive style with a 5-1 demolition of 10-man Al Fateh of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Gholamreza Rezaei and Hassan Jafari, with another penalty, were also on target for the Iranian side at the Prince Abdullah Bin Jalawi Stadium while Mohammed Al Feheid got the only goal for Al Fateh, who bowed out of the tournament after a miserable debut in which they were the only club that failed to manage a win.

In contrast to Al Fateh, Foolad were one of only two unbeaten teams during the group stage, along with Group E winners Pohang Steelers, and they can now look forward to a Round of 16 clash with Group D runners-up Al Sadd of Qatar next month.

The visitors went ahead after just 10 minutes as Leandro Chaves’ free-kick from the right was met at the far post by Sasan Ansari. His header hit the upright but the ball went across the face of the goal to Chimba who had the simple task of tapping home.

The Brazilian would add to his tally in the 36th minute when he was tripped in the box by Mishal Al Saeed and he proceeded to send his penalty kick into the top right corner of the net.

Foolad would be awarded another penalty just before half-time when Esmaeil Shaifat surged into the box and was upended by Hamdan Al Hamad, who received a red card. And Chimba made no mistake once again as he sent goalkeeper Ali Al Mayzadi the wrong way from the spot.

Despite being a man down, Al Fateh did not give in and they pulled a goal back in the 65th minute with a fine solo effort by Al Feheid who brought the ball in from the right flank before taking a shot from the edge of the box which deflected off Jafari and looped over the head of goalkeeper Ershad Yousefi into the net.

But it would be just a short reprieve for the Saudi club who conceded again in the 80th minute after more calamitous defending. A loose pass by Al Saeed deflected off Chaves to Rezaei who chipped the ball home.

And with the game in stoppage time, Jafari was upended in the box by Mubarak Al Sultan for a third penalty which he duly converted to make it 5-1.