ACL QF 2nd Leg: Al Ahli 2-1 Naft Tehran (3-1 Agg.) [VIDEO]

AFC – DUBAI, Al Ahli will take on Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the semi-finals of the 2015 AFC Champions League after Cosmin Olaroiu’s side handed Naft Tehran a 2-1 defeat on Wednesday to complete a 3-1 aggregate quarter-final win.

A fine strike from Rodrigo Lima and a penalty from Ahmed Khalil extended Al Ahli’s one-goal advantage from the first leg with Vahid Amiri netting to give Naft the slimmest of hopes before the Dubai-based club closed out the game to advance to the last four for the first time in their history.

Al Ahli will travel to Riyadh for the first leg against the Saudis on September 29, with the return in Dubai three weeks later and the winner will meet either Gamba Osaka or Guangzhou Evergrande in the final.

The Iranians, trailing by a goal from the opening encounter in Tehran, went close to cancelling out that deficit as early as the 12th minute when Aloys Nong surged through the Al Ahli defence only to see his unconvincing effort palmed to safety by Ahmed Mahmood.

Three minutes later, the home side saw Lima and Everton Ribeiro link up on the edge of the area before the latter’s effort was comfortably taken by goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand.

In the 20th minute, Ribeiro’s ball over the Naft defence released Khalil only for the United Arab Emirates international to send his volley well off target while at full stretch.

It took just another six minutes, though, for Al Ahli to take the lead on the night and further extend their advantage in the tie when Lima unleashed a low curling right-footed effort from 30 yards out that beat Beiranvand with pace.

Ribeiro went close to claiming a second for his side two minutes later, steering the ball wide from just eight yards out as the Iranians continued to look second best.

Al Ahli’s impressive form continued after the commencement of the second half and, within three minutes, they were further ahead when Khalil’s cheeky Panenka from the penalty spot beat Beiranvand after the 24-year-old had earlier been upended by the Iran international goalkeeper.

That goal should have steadied Al Ahli, but in the 50th minute Naft halved the deficit after Walid Abbas miss-controlled what should have been a routine clearance of a hopeful punt into the box by Reza Aliyari, allowing Amiri to score from close range.

Naft pushed in an attempt to reduce the deficit further but it was Al Ahli who went closest to netting again when, in the 86th minute, Ribeiro’s goal-bounded shot was headed off the line by Carlos Santos.

It mattered little, though, as Al Ahli had done enough to progress, keeping alive their hopes of becoming the first club from the UAE to win the AFC Champions League since Al Ain in 2003.