Al Ain led by Hernán Crespo eliminated Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr from the quarterfinals of the Asia Champions League. The Saudi team had lost 1-0 in the first leg against the Qatari team, this Monday they won 4-3 in overtime, but fell in the penalty shootout at the Al-Awwal Stadium. The Portuguese star’s team still has to stay in the fight for the title in the Saudi Pro League and try to close the gap on Neymar’s Al Hilal, who is still recovering from his serious injury.
Al Nassr started the return match with the obligation to turn around the series against those led by Crespo, who knew how to strike at the right moments. At 27 minutes Alejandro Romero Gamarra made a great pass for Soufiane Rahimi, who outpaced his marker and scored a cross goal. First the goal was in doubt due to an alleged advanced position by the Moroccan striker. After the intervention of the VAR, the goal was ratified.
Al Ain later extended their lead after recovering the ball in the middle of the field. Rahimi himself received outside the area and scored a right-footed missile that made goalkeeper Raghed Al-Najjar’s reaction fruitless and the difference on aggregate became 3-0.
Despite the negative outlook, Al Nassr reacted to the 25,000 souls who came to support them and before going to half-time the discount came. In the 49th minute, Sadio Mané received from the right, eluded the goalkeeper and after a weak shot, the ball was captured by Abdulrahman Ghareeb, who gave life to the Saudi team heading into the second half.
At the dawn of the complement, Al Nassr started with everything, since at 50 minutes they reached the tie through Otávio, who after a run from the right finished off and goalkeeper Khalid Eisa put it against his fence.
Ten minutes later, Al Nassr was able to turn the series around, but it was precisely Cristiano Ronaldo who was responsible for not getting the goal that could have earned the classification. Ghareeb finished, Eisa rebounded and the Portuguese striker, inside the six-yard box and one meter from the goal, shot it outside. It was 3-2 that would have stretched the definition.
“He just missed the easiest goal of his career,” journalist Pablo Giralt titled it. “Is he the mistake of his career?” ESPN asked in line. “Ridiculous” and “absurd” were other adjectives that emerged on social networks in response to an inappropriate action for a footballer of his caliber.
However, Al Nassr managed to take the lead since in the 71st minute Alex Telles entered, who took a free kick from the right and, after another weak response from Eisa, made it 3-2. The series was tied and a 30-minute overtime had to be played.
In extra time there was bad news for the local team as Ayman Yahya was sent off. To make matters worse, in the 102nd minute, Argentine Matías Palacios sent a cross that Al-Najjar could not deflect and Sultan Al-Shamsi appeared and scored to make it 3-3.
In the second half of extra time, Cristiano Ronaldo failed again after a counterattack in which his shot was deflected by Eisa and after the rebound the Portuguese himself finished softly and was contained by the Al Ain goalkeeper.
The suspense grew since at 117 minutes CR7 was pushed into the area and the referee awarded a penalty. The Portuguese himself executed and made it 4-3 for Al Nassr. The series was tied 4-4 and was decided by penalties.
In the close from twelve steps Eisa saved Marcelo Brozovic’s shot, Alex Telles’ shot hit the crossbar and Otávio’s was deflected. The only one who scored for Al Nassr was Cristiano Ronaldo, but he was not enough and they were eliminated from the international tournament.
What Al Nassr has left is at the local level, where it is second in the Saudi Pro League with 53 points and is 12 behind the leader, Al Hilal. On the next date the CR7 team will visit Al-Ahli on Saturday.
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