The players of Al Sailiya and Shahr Khodro vie for ball possession during the AFC Champions League play-off match in Doha yesterday.
Iran's Shahr Khodro edged Qatar's Al Sailiya 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out to make it to the group stage of the 2020 AFC Champions League (ACL).
At Duhail Stadium, the teams were locked goalless at the end of full time play and the 30 minutes of extra time also failed to break the deadlock.
With the teams tied goalless the tie breaker system had to be applied in which the Iranian club converted all their five kicks while Al Sailya failed once. Also making it to the main draw of the continental club championship were Iran’s Esteghlal who registered a 5-0 win over Qatar's Al Rayyan.
Two goals apiece from Mehdi Ghaedi and Amir Motahari helped Esteghlal to make it to the next stage,
At the Al Sadd Stadium, the visitors opened the scoring in the eight minute through Cheick Diabate and added a second one in the 40th minute through Ghaedi. He scored a second goal seven minutes later to make it 3-0.
Although, Al Rayyan had 62.5 percent ball possession and forced nine flag kicks they could not strike on the goal front.
With Al Rayyan going all out for goals, the Iranian side struck two more goals to make the issue safe for them.
Motahari scored two goals within a span of six minutes in the 84th and 90 minute to make it 5-0.
Qatar’s Al Sadd and Al Duhail, the top two teams in the 2018-19 QNB Stars League, have already qualified directly for the group stage of Asia’s premier club competition.
