Al Nassr registered a fine victory over Istiklol in their second match of the AFC champions league this season. The Luis Castro coached side displayed some high quality performances on the pitch to outplay Istiklol at home. Al Nassr clearly were the better of the two sides on the pitch as they created more chances and capitalised on them more often than their opponents. Thanks to this win, Al Nassr are now placed at the top of their table with 6 points in two matches. Istiklol on the other hand are placed at the bottom of their group’s table with just a point to their name so far.
The game began with each of the two sides seeking their chances to gain some momentum early on in the match. Al Nassr did well to maintain great percentage of ball possession which allowed them to continuously seek chances to attack the opponent’s net. Despite being able to regularly come close to scoring, some swift work by Istiklol at the back prevented the Saudi side from taking the lead.
Istiklol’s shotstopper – Yatimov was the main man for his side as he made several brilliant saves to deny Ronaldo on a number of ocassions. Ghareeb too came close to scoring when he smashed a brilliant shot from way out of the box only to be denied narrowly by the woodwork. It was Istiklol who took the lead just before half time when Senin Sebai found Beganovic’s ball and smashed it on target from the left side of the goal to beat Nawaf easily.
The second half began and Al Nassr immediately began their attempts to pull things back. The team eventually managed to level thanks to their captain – Cristiano Ronaldo yet again. The no.7 did well to find Ghareeb’s fine pas into the box and then smashed a left footed shot that was blocked by the defender partially. Cristiano then followed up to unleash a deft chip with his left foot to score brilliantly.
Talisca too joined the party just 6 minutes later when he headed in Ayman’s cross past Yatimov to give his side the lead. Al Nassr eventually wrapped up the game in the 77th minute itself when Talisca scored another goal to complete his brace. Ghareeb initially made a good run in th box and executed a fine back heel into the path of Talisca who smashed in a first time shot with his left foot to find the bottom right corner precisely. FT:- Al Nassr 3-1 Istiklol.
