Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia continued their slide in the current edition of the AFC Champions League Elite, after suffering defeat against Shabab Al-Ahli of the UAE.
The Saudi side went down 2-1 at home to Shabab Al-Ahli on Tuesday at the Al-Inma Stadium in Jeddah, in the second round of the league phase of the Asian competition.
Iran's Sardar Azmoun opened the scoring for the visitors in the seventh minute, finishing into an empty net after an outstanding piece of individual play from Guilherme Bala, who beat more than one defender before squaring it to him.
Azmoun struck again on 16 minutes. He broke clear of Serbian goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic from the middle of the pitch, rounded him and rolled the ball into the empty net.
Colombian midfielder Richard Rios halved the deficit in the 66th minute with a powerful low strike from outside the penalty area. It wasn't enough.
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That's two defeats in a row for Al-Ittihad, who lost 3-1 at hosts Al-Hilal last Saturday in the eighth round of the Saudi Roshn League.
Continentally, "the Tigers" have now gone two matches without a win, following a 1-1 draw with Al-Shamal of Qatar in the first round of the league phase.
Their tally has stalled on a single point, leaving them 12th in the West region standings.
Shabab Al-Ahli, meanwhile, made it two wins from two in the AFC Champions League Elite. That takes them to 6 points and fourth place in the West region standings.





