The first day of matchday 2 in the AFC Champions League continued with another poor defensive performance from Al Wahda, who failed to hold onto their lead against Qatar’s Al Duhail and lost 3-2.
Sebastian Tagliabue opened the scoring in the 4th minute via a penalty, but a brace from Youssef El Arabi and a goal from Karim Boudiaf in between in the second half was enough for Al Duhail to secure the three points, before Mourad Batna scored a consolation in the 93rd minute via another penalty.
The UAE clubs’ poor performance continued, when Al Ahli of Saudi Arabia defeated Al Jazira 2-1 to make it two wins in two to top their group. Taisir Al Jassim scored the first goal in the 10th minute, but it was only over an hour later when Al Ahli managed to place a grip on the game with Mohaned Asiri’s penalty in the 70th minute. Al Jazira’s consolation came in injury time, when Yasser Al Mosailem scored an own goal for Al Ahli.
Also in the same group, Al Gharafa secured their first three points of the campaign when they thrashed Tractor Sazi 3-0. The Iranian striker Mehdi Taremi scored a brace and missed a penalty against his home country’s representative in the group, to make it an easy victory for Wesley Sneijder’s new club.
Zob Ahan comfortably beat Lokomotiv Tashkent 2-0 in Group B to announce their arrival as challengers for the first two qualifying spots, after losing to Al Duhail 3-1 in the previous matchday.
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