(MENAFN- The Peninsula)
A stunning 86th minute Nam Tae-hee equaliser helped Lekhwiya to share spoils in an exciting 2-2 draw against Al Fateh in the AFC Champions League Group B match at the Prince Abdullah Bin Jalawi Stadium yesterday.
Youssef El Arabi had netted a third continental goal in two games to open the scoring for the Qatari visitors after his 19th minute header from Youssef Msakni's cross, but Nathan Junior's successfully converted penalty kick saw the sides go into the break all-square.
Al Fateh defender Sayyaf Al Bishi then took full advantage of ‘keeper Amine Lecomte's failure to deal with Ahmed Al Mubarak's corner to stab home from close range.
With time running out, it looked like the Saudi Arabian club would finally end a run of seven games without a win in Asia's premier club competition, but it was not to be as Korea Republic midfielder Nam struck a sweet volley from just inside the area that arced over Abdullah Al Oaisher and into the top corner.
In Tashkent, Lokomotiv midfielder Salamat Kutibaev scored the second fastest goal in AFC Champions League history as the Uzbek side picked up their first points of the 2017 competition after a 2-0 win over visitors Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates at Lokomotiv Stadium in the Group A clash.
After suffering a 1-0 reversal to Saudi Arabia's Al Taawoun on Matchday One, 2016 quarter-finalists Lokomotiv shook off the opening day defeat in record time as Kutibaev headed home Marat Bikmaev's left-wing cross in under 18 seconds of the match an achievement bettered only by Sebastian Soria's nine-second opener for Lekhwiya, also in Tashkent, against Pakhtakor at the 2013 edition.
Shell-shocked, the 2015 runners-up did respond and were kept out by some excellent goalkeeping by Ignatiy Nesterov but just three minutes before the hour mark Bikmaev went from provider to goalscorer and added Lokomotiv's all-important second, slotting past visiting custodian Majed Naser after Sardor Mirzayev's assist.
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