GAMBA OSAKA (JPN) v ADELAIDE UNITED (AUS) (0 – 2) (FT)
BRISBANE ROAR (AUS) v BEIJING GUOAN (CHN) (1 – 1) (FT)
ULSAN HYUNDAI (KOR) v FC TOKYO (JPN) (1 – 0) (FT)
BUNYODKOR (UZB) v POHANG STEELERS (KOR) (1 – 0) (FT)
NASAF (UZB) v ESTEGHLAL (IRN) (0 – 2) (FT)
AL RAYYAN (QAT) v AL JAZIRA (UAE) (3 – 4) (FT)
BANIYAS (UAE) v PAKHTAKOR (UZB) (2 – 0) (FT)
AL ITTIHAD (KSA) v AL ARABI (QAT) (3 – 2) (FT)

Esteghlal 3-0 Al Rayyan
Esteghlal moved within touching distance of a spot in the last 16 of the AFC Champions League after they regained second place in Group A with a decisive 3-0 victory over Al Rayyan.
The hosts dominated the opening half and took the lead after 23 minutes when Borhani slotted home from the penalty spot after Al Rayyan’s Brazilian striker Afonso Alves had handled the ball in his own box.
Al Rayyan coach Diego Aguirre felt aggrieved by the decision, which he felt was the turning point of the game.
Esteghlal …

Nasaf 0-1 Al Rayyan
Al Rayyan claimed their first ever away win in the AFC Champions League with a 1-0 victory at Nasaf boosting their chances of an appearance in the knockout phase.
The victory was Al Rayyan’s second in a row against the Uzbek club in Group A following their 3-1 win in Doha two weeks ago and it moved them up to second with six points, four behind group leaders Al Jazira and one ahead of Esteghlal with two games to play.
Nasaf have only one point from four games and …

Esteghlal 1-2 Al Jazira
Al Jazira are now three from three in Group A with Esteghlal losing their first home game in the AFC Champions League.
Esteghlal had not lost a home game in some 12 appearances in the AFC Champions League competition. Playing at home they came out rather strongly to start with and had their first chance within 2 minutes of the kick-off.
Six minutes later however Esteghlal were down 1 – 0. Matias Delgado swung in a free-kick from the left flank and Juma Abdulla rose above the Esteghlal defence …

Al Jazira 3-2 Al Rayyan
Al Jazira where able to hold of a committed Al Rayyan and make it two from two on Tuesday as the UAE Pro League champions maintained a 100% record in Group A of the AFC Champions League.
Goals from Ricardo De Oliveira, captain Ibrahim Diaky and Abdulla Mousa had put Al Jazira into a seemingly comfortable position after 57 minutes at Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium.
After testing Al Rayyan goalkeeper Soud Al Hajri inside the opening minutes, De Oliveira opened the scoring on the eight minute mark with …

Sepahan rallied from a goal down to post an emphatic 4-1 victory over Al Jazira and top 2011 AFC Champions League Group A on Wednesday.
Brazilian Bare opened the scoring for the hosts after 14 minutes but Javad Kazemian got Sepahan level just after the half-hour mark before the visitors turned the screw after the break.
Senegal’s Ibrahima Toure scored twice and Reza Enayati completed the 4-1 win for the Iranian champions at the Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium that seals top spot regardless of Al Hilal’s result against Al Gharafa.
Al Jazira coach …

Al Hilal secured their place in the last 16 of the 2011 AFC Champions League with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Al Gharafa at King Fahd International Stadium.
Needing just a point to go through, second-half goals from Yasser Al Qahtani and Ahmed Al Fraidi were enough to see off the Qataris in the Group A encounter and book a trip to Jeddah rivals Al Ittihad in the last 16.
Younis Mahmoud battled manfully for Al Gharafa but he ploughed a lonely furrow up front as the Qataris were unable to create …

Al Gharafa kept their 2011 AFC Champions League hopes alive with an emphatic 5-2 victory over Al Jazira at Al Gharafa Stadium.
Al Gharafa threatened first and Ahmed Fares saw a long-range shot curl just over the bar with Al Jazira keeper Ali Kashief beaten after four minutes.
A minute later, Al Gharafa striker Mahmood saw a header fly narrowly over the top but he gave his side the lead in the 10th minute thanks to an error from Kashief.
The Al Jazira keeper took too long over …

Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal rallied from a two-goal deficit to pull off an incredible 3-2 victory over hosts Al Jazira in Wednesday’s 2011 AFC Champions League Group A clash.

Al Jazira stunned the Saudi giants with two quick goals towards the end of the first-half but Al Hilal regained their composure and pulled off a fine win to move a step closer to a second-round place with nine points from four games, the same as Iranian side Sepahan.

Amara Diane’s first-half goal saw Al Gharafa end Sepahan’s perfect record in the 2011 AFC Champions League and boost their flagging hopes of place in the knockout stage.

Sepahan 2-0 Al Gharafa
Sepahan made it three wins out of three as goals from Hadi Aghily and Ahmad Jamshidian sealed a 2-0 win over Al Gharafa at the Foolad Shahr.
Following a goalless first-half, the hosts went in front in the 54th minute when Aghily converted from the spot after Ibrahima Toure had been brought down in the box.
Jamshidian then wrapped up the points 11 minutes later when he beat Al Gharafa keeper Qasem Burhan from long range with a swerving strike to leave the Iranians on the verge of a …

Baptism of fire for Al Gharafa’s new coach Metsu as Al Hilal won away 1 – 0 to take all three points in the Group A clash.

Sepahan 2 – 1 Al Hilal
Sepahan stunned Saudi giants Al Hilal on Tuesday as the Iranians claimed a 2-1 victory in their opening AFC Champions League encounter at King Fahd International Stadium.
After a goalless first half it was the visitors who went ahead when Ibrahima Toure headed home in 51st minute before Sepahan added a second just nine minutes later when Al Hilal keeper Abdullah Alsdairy managed to turn Fabio Januario’s corner into his own net.
It seemed Sepahan were coasting to victory but Christian …

Over the coming weeks and as we approach kick off on March 1, we will be previewing each of the groups to see who are the favourites and how they are likely to fair in this year’s 2011 AFC Asian Champions League competition.

A last minute Naser Kamel winner for Al-Gharafa saw the The Cheetahs clinch top spot in Group A. Matchday 6 was a contest about who would win top spot.
Al-Jazira 2–1 Esteghlal
UAE League side Al-Jazira is one of the weakest teams in the ACL based on results over the past 2 seasons. However with few expecting them to do much against group leaders Esteghlal, the stepped up to the mark and broke Esteghlal’s unbeaten record.
The visitors took an expected lead five minutes before half-time. Hossein Kazemi’s mazy run ended with Farhad …

Kawasaki Frontale have battled back from the brink to give themselves a shot at qualification for the last 16 of the AFC Champions League. The J-League side visit Beijing Gouan on the final matchday only one point behind the Chinese Super League team and the winner of that tie will take their place alongside Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the knockouts.

Frontale were off to a flyer and were two goals to the good by the 20 minute mark. Hiroyuki Taniguchi opened the scoring after five minutes and Yusuke Tasaka doubled the lead 15 minutes after. That was the way it remained until the 79th minute when Renatinho added a third for a rejuvenated Kawasaki, who lost to Melbourne in their last outing.

With all games in Match Day 4 of the AFC Champions League completed, two more teams have confirming their places in the Round of 16.

Seongnam Ilhwa made it four in a row in Group E to go through while Suwon Bluewings made sure of their advance in Group G.

Group A

Esteghlal, of Iran, drew 1-1 away to Qatar’s Al Gharafa and Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli scored a 2-0 away win over Al Jazira.

Younis Mahmoud gave Gharafa a 1-0 lead before the interval but Mehdi Salehi equalised for the visitors on 58 minutes.

Group A
Esteghlal 3-0 Al Gharafa
Al Ahli 5-1 Al-Jazira
Al Gharafa couldn’t compete with Esteghlal today and went down 3-0 in the Azadi Stadium today. Esteghlal striker Farhad Majidi bagged himself two goals today. Majidi put the hosts ahead after a quarter of an hour before doubling their lead ten minutes after the break. Defender Pejman Montazeri then sealed the victory ten minutes from time.
In Group A’s other fixture, Al-Ahli, who so far have leaked five goals in their first two matches, turned things around against Al Jazira scoring 5 goals and …

Sadd Al Shammari and Brazilian striker Araújo scored inside the final 10 minutes as Qatar’s Al Gharafa rallied to beat Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia 3-2 in the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.

Esteghlal and Al Jazira shared a point apiece as both sides hit the woodwork in a goalless draw at Azadi Stadium in Wednesday’s AFC Champions League Group A clash.