Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia Advances with Victory Against Tractor Sazi

In the final week of the group stage of the AFC Champions League, Tractor Sazi Tabriz lost to Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia 2-1 at Muscat Stadium. Given that the Iranian representative's advancement was confirmed, this match was ceremonial for the red-clad team from Tabriz, while Al Hilal needed to win to advance. In a simultaneous match, Pakhtakor Tashkent defeated Al Jazira of the UAE 3-0, hoping for Al Hilal to stumble against Tractor Sazi to qualify. Amir Ghalenooi, whose team had won the first leg, rested some of his key players at the start of this match considering an important upcoming match in the Premier League against Esteghlal. Mohammadreza Akhbari, Carlos Cardoso, Shoja Khalilzadeh, Ali Hamoudi, Khaled Shafiei, Sina Ashouri, Ayoub Kalantari, Fardin Abedini (Farzad Hatami), Shahin Saghaei (Soroush Rafiei), Augusto Cesar, and Alois Nang (Saeed Aghaei) played against Al Hilal. On the other side, Georgios Donis sent his team with all key players to the field to avoid elimination. The Saudi representative scored in the first half. Nawaf Al Abed's pass reached Al Dossari in the penalty area, and the Tractor Sazi defenders' delay in marking allowed him to place the ball into the net. From this moment, Al Hilal changed its tactics to focus on maintaining the lead. Moments later, Khaled Shafiei's shot went over the Al Hilal goal. In the 25th minute, Alois Nang's turn and shot did not find the net. At the beginning of the second half, Al Hilal missed an ideal opportunity just steps away from the goal. Tractor Sazi equalized with a cross from Farzad Hatami and a powerful shot from Alois Nang. This goal, if maintained, could have led to Al Hilal's elimination and Pakhtakor's advancement. After the equalizer, Al Hilal again launched an all-out attack to remain in the competition standings. Akhbari, the goalkeeper of the U23 national team who is also part of the senior national team, prevented the collapse of his goal with brave exits on two separate occasions. On a day when Tractor Sazi's defenders were error-prone, Al Hilal scored its second goal in the 72nd minute through Ailton Almeida. The panic in Tractor Sazi's defense allowed even during normal play, when they had possession, to create opportunities for the blue-clad Al Hilal through individual mistakes. In the 90th minute, Tractor Sazi came close to collapsing Fahd Al Tanyan's goal, but Soroush Rafiei's dangerous shot turned into a corner. A fruitless corner that went out after the cross, ending this intense match with Al Hilal's victory. On Wednesday, Sepahan Isfahan, which has been eliminated from the competition, will face Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia. This match is ceremonial for Sepahan, but Al Ittihad still has a chance to advance. Zob Ahan Isfahan, which like Tractor Sazi has advanced to the next round, will face Al Nassr of Saudi Arabia.