Luiz Martins Junior (in red) of Lekhwiya controls the ball during his side’s AFC Champions League match against Saudi Arabi’s Al Hilal in Doha yesterday. RIGHT: Issiar Dia (left) celebrates with Ismaeel Mohammed after the Lekhwiya player scored the first goal in the game. The match ended 2-2 but Lekhwiya advanced to the quarter-finals of the competition with a 3-2 aggregate win.
Doha: Qatar’s Lekhwiya held off a second-half fightback from Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal to advance to the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League for the first time following a 2-2 draw in yesterday’s second leg.
After fellow Qatar Stars League sides El Jaish and Al Gharafa were both eliminated in the Round of 16 on Tuesday, Senegalese striker Issiar Dia added to Lekhwiya’s one-goal first leg advantage after just 14 minutes of the return fixture before defender Mohamed Musa netted his first goal of the campaign at the start of the second half.
Two-time Asian champions Al Hilal, though, hit back through Salman Al Faraj just after the hour mark before Mohammed Al Shalhoub’s 78th minute penalty set-up a tense finale at Lekhwiya Club Stadium.
But Lekhwiya survived to take their place in June’s quarter-final draw to go some way to make up for seeing their two-year reign as Qatar champions ended this season having exited in the group stage of their maiden AFC Champions League campaign last season.
With a slender one-goal cushion following last week’s first leg in Riyadh, Lekhwiya needed just 14 minutes to double their advantage as Dia wrong-footed Al Hilal defender Majed Al Marshadi inside the area following a pass from first leg goalscorer Youssef Msakni before guiding the ball past Al Hilal goalkeeper Abdullah Al Sdairy into the bottom corner.
And Nam Tee-hee was unfortunate not to double Lekhwiya’s lead just six minutes later as the Korea Republic international rocked the Al Hilal crossbar with a first time effort from the edge of the area following Dia’s pull back.
Nam again went close two minutes before the break as the midfielder’s half volley was beaten away by Al Hilal goalkeeper Al Sdairy following patient build up from the home side.
With Al Hilal coach Zlatko Dalic introducing both midfielder Al Shalhoub and Korean striker Yoo Byung-soo at half-time in attempt to rescue Al Hilal’s campaign, the visitors finally tested Lekhwiya goalkeeper Amine Lecomte through Yasir Al Shahrani two minutes into the second half. But just four minutes later the home side doubled their lead on the night to take a seemingly commanding three-goal lead overall as Karim Boudiaf helped on Nam’s free-kick and Musa, who was making just his second start of the campaign, was on hand to head home at the far post.
Al Hilal, though, finally found a response four minutes after the hour mark as Al Faraj raced into the area unmarked to stylishly convert Salem Al Dawsari’s cross with the outside of his foot.
And with 12 minutes remaining Al Hilal drew level on the night as Lekhwiya’s overall lead was further reduced as Musa was adjudged to have pulled back Yasser Al Qahtani inside the area and Al Shalhoub squeezed the resulting penalty past Lecomte.
Lekhwiya then had Dame Traore to thank for beating Yoo to a loose ball inside the six-yard area with the Korean seemingly about to head his side into the quarter-finals.
But Lekhwiya survived strong pressure in the closing stages to deny 1991 and 2000 Asian Club Championship winners Al Hilal a second consecutive appearance in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Chinese giants Guangzhou Evergrande marched into the AFC Champions League quarter-finals and underlined their strong title credentials with a convincing 3-0 win over Central Coast Mariners. AGENCIES
