Esteghlal ended their 2011 AFC Champions league campaign with a 2-1 victory over Al Nassr at the Azadi Stadium, but it was not sufficient to seal a place in the last 16 as they lost out to their Saudi opponents on goal difference.
Badar Al Motawa opened the scoring on the hour mark before Farhad Majidi in the 62nd and Hawar Mulla Mohammed in the 89th minutes turned the match around for Esteghlal.
In a first half low on excitement, the visitors created the first chance in the 16th minute from a …

Bader Al Motawaa scored twice as Al Nassr thrashed Pakhtakor 4-0 at King Fahd International Stadium and put themselves in pole position to join Al Sadd in the last 16 of the 2011 AFC Champions League from Group B.
The home side took the lead with just seven minutes on the clock when Hamoud met Khaled Asiri’s cross from the left with a superb diving header from six yards out that left keeper Nikita Ribkin no chance.
Stanislav Andreev saw a free-kick dip just over the …

Al Sadd staged a thrilling comeback on Wednesday as they rallied from 2-0 deficit to hold Esteghlal in a key 2011 AFC Champions League clash.
Al Sadd, leaders of Group B before the start of the match at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, dominated most of the opening half but were behind at the break after visiting skipper Farhad Majidi struck twice.
However, Al Sadd turned it around in the second period with Khalfan Ibrahim and substitute Hasan Haydos both on target.
The draw was enough to keep Al Sadd at the top of …

Egor Krimets’ header two minutes from time breathed new life into Pakhtakor’s 2011 AFC Champions League campaign with a 2-1 win over Esteghlal at Pakhtakor Stadium.

Al Sadd 1-0 Al Nassr
Lee Jung-soo’s second-half header sent Al Sadd to the top of Group B in the 2011 AFC Champions League after they edged out Al Nassr 1-0 at Al Sadd Stadium.
Lee deftly headed Nadir Belhadj’s corner into the back of the net after 60 minutes for his second goal of the tournament as the Qataris moved on to seven points with the victory, three ahead of their Saudi opponents.
Al Nassr threatened first and in the fourth minute, striker Mohammed Al Sahlwai slipped in a pass to team-mate …

Al Nassr scored two goals in the 2nd half to claim victory against Esteghlal 2-1.

Al Nassr (2-2) Pakhtakor
Al Nassr twice came from behind to earn their first point of the AFC Champions League with a 2-2 draw with Pakhtakor.
Sherzod Karimov opened the scoring for the hosts seconds before the break but Bader Al Motawaa equalised five minutes into the second half.
Dilshod Sharofetdinov put Pakhtakor ahead once again on the hour but Bojan Miladinovic ensured Al Nassr would leave Uzbekistan with their first point in Group B when he put the ball into his own net when attempting to cut out Mohammad Al Sahlawi’s cross.
Al …

Currently sitting in 4th position domestically (mid way through the 2010/11 season), Al Nassr will make it’s first appearance at the AFC Champions League. Certainly not a favourite to make it’s way through Group B when you consider that they are competing with the likes of Esteghlal and Pakhtakor, two established teams in the competition.

Denilson made all the difference for Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Bunyodkor, ensuring his side made it into the knockout stages.
The Uzbek champions need to win and hope that Zob Ahan also won in order to progress. It turned out that way and now they will meet Saudi champs Al-Hilal. Zob Ahan’s win sees them qualify as group winners to set-up an all Iranian clash with Mes Kerman.
Bunyodkor 4-1 Al-Wehda
Rivaldo opened the scoring 28 minutes in, as Wehda left him un-marked inside the box to head home Djeparov’s cross. Denilson doubled their …

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.

Match Day 4 Tuesday of the AFC Champions League 2010 resulted in some upsets and wake up calls for many teams that had a easy road so far.

Group B

Zob Ahan have managed 2 major upsets in a matter of weeks against the Uzbek aristocrats Bunyodkor on Tuesday.

They followed up their MD3 3-0 home victory with a 1-0 win that takes them to the top of the table with 10 points and sends Bunyodkor tumbling down to third, with six points.

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 …

Brazilian striker Denilson scored twice as Bunyodkor recorded a 2-1 win over Al Wahda of the UAE in the AFC Champions League on Wednesday as Luis Felipe Scolari’s Uzbekistan champions maintained their 100% record in Group B.

Bunyodkor have won comfortably with goals from Rivaldo, Jasur Hasanov and Denilson making it 3-0 win over last year’s finalists Al Ittihad.

The Tashkent giants’ heavy investment over the close season paid off as they completely outclassed a poor Al Ittihad side in the Group B clash at JAR Stadium.

Today lets also take a look a Group B. This looks like the toughest of the West Asia groups, with the likes of Al Ittihad and Bunyodkor.

Zob Ahan (IRN) – The chances are that this group is too hard for them to survive and this season is one too soon for Zob Ahan.
Al Ittihad (KSA) – Ittihad is one of the best teams in Saudi Arabia and one of the best teams in Asia. They have a good chance of progressing to the knock-out rounds.
Bunyodkor (UZB) – Have had 2 …

Al Shabab defeated Al Gharafa 1-0 in Riyadh.
The hosts left it as late as could be as a stoppage-time penalty from Nasser Al Shamrani won the game.
The Qatari team played for much of the game with ten men as Ahmed Fares was sent off in the first half.
With time running out for Al Shabab, Fisal bin Sultan was brought down by Saad Al Shammri and Nasser Al Shamrani made no mistake from the spot.
Persepolis also booked their place in round 2.
The Iranian champions saw their game against Sharjah cancelled as …

Source: www.the-afc.com
The United Arab Emirates club were cut apart by the Saudi side in the Group B encounter with Nassir Al Shamrani netting a hat-trick and Abdulaziz Saran adding two more goals as Al Shabab closed in on a spot in the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League.
Sharjah remain in last place without a single point thus far but Oliveira was not too disappointed with the team’s latest setback.
“The result of the game doesn’t reflect the performance,” he said.
“We have met a strong team and they have good players …

Source: www.the-afc.com
Al Gharafa coach Marcos Paqueta could barely contain his delight after watching his side annihilate Piroozi 5-1 at Al Gharafa Stadium.
Araujo proved the hero with a hat-trick as the recently-crowned Qatar league champions hauled themselves firmly back into contention in Group B for a place in the knockout stage.
It was also sweet revenge for Paqueta after the 3-1 defeat against the same side at the Azadi Stadium last month.
“It is a memorable day for Al Gharafa,” he said.
“We played a great match against a very good side. We wanted …