Al Duhail brushed aside Sepahan FC 5-2 in the final Group D match in the AFC Champions League (ACL) 2022 at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
It was a story of profligacy and missed chances peppered throughout the game for Sepahan, who had more shots on goal than their opponents but a combination of good goalkeeping and a lack of concentration from the Iranian side was their undoing.
Needing a win, Sepahan pressed from the off as they looked to gain an advantage and Mohamed Reza Hosseini almost opened the scoring with a beautiful header from Milad Jahani’s cross, but Ali Afif was well positioned to block the ball and clear it with goalkeeper Shehab El Lethy down.
On the counterattack ten minutes into the game, Al Duhail managed to open the scoring thanks to Assim Madibo’s interception at the back which he laid off to Nam Tae-hee, the Korea Republic playmaker then carried the ball forward before taking on two players before he teed up an onrushing Michael Olunga who just needed to tap it into the empty net to make the score 1-0.
Just ten minutes later and after Omid Noorafkan missed a free-kick that scraped the post minutes earlier, Mohamed Nejad restored parity with a header from Danial Esmaelifar’s corner kick and although El Lethy appeared to have saved it, the referee judged that the ball had crossed the line.
It wasn’t too long before Hernan Crespo’s men went ahead again, this time with Madibo turning prime creator with an intelligent ball that picked Olunga on the shoulder of the last defender, the Kenyan making no mistake from close range to make it 2-1 after 35 minutes of play.
Just three minutes after Sajjad Shahbazadeh hit the post for the Isfahan-based side, Edmilson did what he does best, scoring his seventh goal of the current AFC Champions League campaign. The Brazilian-born Belgian cut inside with exquisite skill from the left flank, rounded two players before placing the ball with almost pinpoint accuracy in the top corner of Rashid Mazaheri’s net, seeing out the first half well ahead of their opponents at 3-1.
Al Duhail came out buzzing in the second half, going further ahead and scoring their fourth goal thanks to holding midfielder Ferjani Sassi. When Sepahan failed to clear a corner, the ball eventually fell to the lively Edmilson who put in a low cross in a forest of feet that the Tunisian just about met to slot home.
With nine minutes of play left, Soroush Rafiei clawed one back by scoring a magnificent free kick from far out of the penalty area, carefully aimed for El Lethy’s top corner to make it 4-2 but it was too little too late for the Iran Pro League side.
Edmilson made sure of the win at the death in beautiful fashion, taking on a defender with some silky footwork before placing the ball low and far from the keeper’s reach to make it 5-2.
Al Duhail finished the stage as group leaders with 15 points from five wins and a loss, while Sepahan stay third and therefore are eliminated after picking up seven points from five games.
