AFC.com
Al Nassr reached the AFC Champions League semi-final for the first time in their history after a convincing 2-0 win over compatriots Al Ahli Saudi FC at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium on Wednesday.
Both teams went into the quarter-final game with their strikers looking to extend personal scoring runs; Al Ahli’s Omar Al Soma had scored 10 goals in his 10 league starts against Al Nassr, while Abderazzak Hamdallah was level with Shanghai SIPG’s Hulk in scoring in nine consecutive AFC Champions League matches, and was hoping to make the record his.
Al Nassr started on the front foot and within 60 seconds they had created their first big chance as Khalid Al Ghannam advanced down the left, exchanged passes with Pity Martinez, and chipped Al Owais from close range, but Abdelbaset Al Hindi interfered at the last moment, producing a goal line clearance to deny Al Nassr an early opener.
The two players combined again in the 13th minute, with Al Ghannam dribbling his way centrally and found Martinez inside the box. The Argentinian midfielder showed nimble feet to pass his marker and slot home his maiden goal in Al Nassr colours.
The Riyadh-based side continued their dominance and came close to doubling their lead halfway through the opening 45 minutes when former Al Ahli player Abdulfattah Asiri cut inside from the right and unleashed a powerful effort that narrowly missed the target.
Hamdallah missed a golden opportunity at the half-hour mark. The Moroccan striker latched onto a defence-splitting Asiri pass to go through on goal before drilling an effort that crept inches wide of the post.
Al Ahli came back from the halftime break with desire to find an equaliser, and came close seven minutes after the restart when Lucas Lima bent a cross from a free-kick into the far post for Al Hindi whose header missed the target.
After weathering the early storm, Al Nassr responded clinically with right-back Sultan Al Ghannam finding Asiri with a low cross and the winger controlling expertly to evade his marker and fire in against his former club to make it 2-0.
Al Ahli huffed and puffed but did not get a clear-cut chance until two minutes from time when Al Soma got on the end of an Abdulrahman Ghareeb cross, beating goalkeeper Brad Jones but hitting the crossbar.
Hamdallah’s pursuit of the continental record looked destined for success when the Moroccan forward rounded goalkeeper Al Owais following a counter-attack and aimed his shot at the empty goalmouth, but Al Ahli left-back Lime emerged out of nowhere to make a goal-line clearance, to keep the score at 2-0 at the final whistle.