Dubai: Nilmar’s improvised overhead flick helped ensure Al Nasr avenged last week’s AFC Champions League defeat at the hands of Sepahan of Iran as the club from the United Arab Emirates ran out 2-0 winners at the Al Maktoum Stadium in Group A of the 2016 campaign on Tuesday.
The Brazilian’s brilliant close-range goal in the 57th minute was the difference between the teams in a tight game before a stoppage-time penalty conversion by Jonathan Pitroipa sealed all three points for Al Nasr.
“It was an important match for us. The victory was vital because we needed to get the three points,” said Al Nasr coach Ivan Jovanovic. “I’m proud of the performance of our players and I believe that the result was fair because we controlled the match and we were the better side.
“We should have scored more goals but we managed to win the match thanks to the good performance of the players.”
Al Nasr threatened from the start and within seconds the home side were awarded an indirect free kick just six yards from goal when Hossein Fazeli knocked Esam Dhahi’s cutback towards Shahab Gordan and the goalkeeper instinctively picked up the ball.
Ahmed Al Yassi rolled the resulting free kick to Jires Kembo-Ekoko, but his drive was deflected to safety by the Sepahan wall.
Despite that nervous start, it was Sepahan who should have gone into the halftime break leading.
A reflex save from Ahmad Shambih following Abdollah Karami’s header of Senijad Ibricic’s cross kept the Iranians at bay while, nine minutes before the interval, Mohammad Khalatbari should have done better than fire off target with the goal at his mercy.
At the other end, Tariq Ahmed’s off-balance effort following Dhahi’s knockdown flew over the crossbar in the 40th minute while Sepahan’s players finished the half wondering how Fazeli was only able to find the arms of goalkeeper Shambih after Ibricic’s inviting low cross into the six yard box.
Twelve minutes into the second half, however, Al Nasr broke the deadlock, and it came with a fine piece of improvisational skill from Nilmar, who deftly flicked the ball over his shoulder and beyond the helpless Gordan after a low cross from Hussain Abbas.
Three minutes later, the Brazilian could have doubled his side’s lead when he was gifted possession close to goal by Karami, only for Gordan to this time be equal to the resulting attempt on goal.
Sepahan continued to leave themselves exposed as they sought the equaliser with Abbas squandering his chance in the 67th minute before Nilmar, six minutes from time, skied another opportunity to kill off the game over the bar.
However, Gordan’s upending of Salem Saleh four minutes into stoppage time left referee Ko Hyung-jin pointing to the spot and Pitroipa sealed the win with a confident strike into the bottom corner.
“Our opponents were more aggressive than us and they showed great determination to win the match,” said Sepahan coach Igor Stimac. “We made a lot of mistakes and lost several balls which affected us. We didn’t have a good performance tonight.
“We will sit down and look at the match again as the performance was not as expected. Some players didn’t follow instructions. We had several scoring chances which should have changed the result but we couldn’t score with those chances.”
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