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Sharjah FC and Al Wahda were both earn victorious as they boosted their AFC Champions League hopes whilst Shabab Al-Ahli still search for their first win.
Al Wahda 3-2 Al Rayyan
The side from Abu Dhabi sealed their first victory of the ACL group stages after a remarkable comeback win against Al Rayyan.
Fares Juma stunned the visitors in sensational fashion with a last-minute winner. The defender headed in Abdulla Al Karbi’s cross from the right to earn the UAE side three crucial points.
The visitors opened the scoring in the early exchange. Al Wahda struggled to clear the ball as it fell to Shoja Khalilzadeh who struck low on the turn to give his side the lead.
The Lions went close to making it two just before the break but Yohan Boli was kept out by goalkeeper Mohamed Al Shamsi.
Al Rayyan picked up where they left off from the first-half. Abdulaziz Hatem doubled the lead after brilliant hold up play by Frenchman Yohan Boli to set up his teammate who made no mistake with the finish.
It looked all set for the Lions who were on the verge of claiming their first victory of the campaign with a superb display.
However, the pressure kept coming for Al Wahda and despite substitute Tim Matavz hitting the post, the hosts were rewarded with their efforts a few minutes later. Manea Aydh Al Ruwais was the first to react to smash the ball into the back of the net to halve the deficit after Al Rayyan’s defence struggled to clear the ball.
Five minutes before time, captain Khali Ibrahim who assisted the first was on the score sheet and grabbed the equaliser. The 27-year-old raced on to Matavz’s fantastic through ball and made the finish look easy to slide his shot past Fahad Younis.
Fares Jumma was able to grab the winner in added time of the second-half to complete what was a fantastic comeback for Al Wahda.
As we reach the halfway point of the ACL, the Abu Dhabi side move into second place with four points, five points behind leaders Persepolis who are unbeaten in the group stages so far.
Sharjah 4-1 Pakhtakor
Sharjah FC took a massive step towards the last 16 with a 4-1 win against Pakhtakor.
Caio Lucas Fernandes, who has been a star to watch in recent weeks, scored a wonderful solo goal and was involved in Sharjah’s other goals.
10 minutes into the game, the hosts were able to take the lead. Caio’s free-kick was played into Khaled Ba Wazir who tapped the ball home to score his second goal of the tournament.
The visitors weren’t behind for too long. Sardor Rashidov’s shot was initially saved by Adel Al Hosani but right on queue was Dragan Ceran to slide in the equaliser.
An action-packed first-half saw the King’s regain the lead. Caio went charging on, past the Pakhtakor defence who struggled to stop him and had great awareness to find Salem Saleh who restored Sharjah’s lead.
Ciao added the third in the second-half. After receiving the ball from Ba Wazir, the Brazillian was scampering forward once again before cutting onto his favoured right foot and finishing into the corner past Sanjar Kuvvatov.
The points were sealed a few minutes later when youngster Luan Pereira’s long-range deflected strike made it four as Sharjah FC continue their unbeaten start to the campaign and cement their position at the top of Group B.
Olmaliq 2-1 Shabab Al Ahli
AGMK came back from a goal down to score twice in the dying minutes and beat Shabab Al Ahli who still await their first victory.
Both sides came into this needing the win to restore their hopes of progressing in this tournament. The hosts had the first sight on goal when Zafar Polvonov was looking to get his third goal of the competition but was denied by Majed Nasr who made a comfortable save.
Al Ahli weren’t causing much of a threat with the hosts made it difficult for them. However, a mistake at the back from the hosts allowed Harib Suhail to cross onto the head of Ahmed Al Attas who rose the highest to score the UAE side’s first goal of the ACL.
The hosts reacted and pressed for the equaliser, Alvin Fortes made a great run from the right but his unleashing shot came off the post.
Olmaliq had chances to level. Sanjar Tursunov missed the target before Oleksandr Kasyan saw his header go wide.
Mirjalol Qosimov’s side hit the post twice and it didn’t seem like it was going to be their night but their patience was rewarded. Jovan Dokic smashed home from close range before Akramjon Komilov’s powerful strike beat the unfortunate Naser at his near post as AGMK completed the comeback.
