Al Rayyan Off To A Bumpy Start With Loss To Al Hilal
Date
9/17/2024 11:02:30 PM
(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar's Al Rayyan suffered a 1-3 defeat to Saudi's four-time continental champions Al Hilal in their AFC Champions League Elite opener at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan on Tuesday.
Goals late in the first half for Joao Concelo and Marcos Leonardo effectively confirmed the win for Jorge Jesus' team after Sergej Milinkovic-Savic had put the visitors in front in the 15th minute.
A Roger Guedes goal early in the second half gave Al Rayyan hope and Al Hilal failed to kill off the game with Aleksandar Mitrovic seeing a late penalty saved and Malcom hitting the post as home goalkeeper Paulo Victor kept the Saudis at bay.
It took Al Hilal only a quarter of an hour to take the lead, Milinkovic-Savic bursting into the penalty area to meet Malcom's in-swinging cross from the right and power his header home. Four minutes later Yassine Bounou protected his side's lead with a fine save, pushing David Garcia's close range header over the bar after the defender was found inside the six yard box by Gabriel Pereira's centre.
Al Hilal were clearly on top, however, although captain Salem al-Dawsari squandered an opportunity to double the lead with 33 minutes on the clock when he dragged his shot into the side-netting. Mahmoud Trezeguet was agonisingly close to levelling for Al Rayyan moments later, the Egyptian seeing his blistering shot from the corner of the penalty area deflected narrowly wide.
But with three minutes left in the half Al Hilal doubled their lead, Cancelo smashing a low first-time shot past Victor after Malcom had slid the ball into the Portuguese right back's path. Two minutes later the former Manchester City man turned provider, Leonardo applying the finishing touch at close range as Cancelo slid a pin-point pass through to the edge of the six yard box. Al Rayyan reduced the deficit barely a minute into the second half through Guedes, who initially laid the ball off to Achraf Bencharki and, having beaten the defender, the midfielder delivered a low cross for Guedes to finish with his instep from three yards out.
In the 52nd minute Leonardo dragged a shot across the face of the target while Bounou kept the Qataris out at the other end, moving to his right to block Abdelaziz Hatim's goal-bound strike.
Al Hilal were awarded a penalty when Mitrovic's header was blocked by Julien de Sart's arm but Victor pushed away the Serbian striker's 71st minute spot-kick as he dived to his left, keeping Al Rayyan's faint hopes alive.
The Saudis continued to go close to a fourth, with Milinkovic-Savic heading over the target and Malcom hitting the post before al-Dawsari's shot was saved by Victor but Al Hilal had done more than enough to take the points.
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