AFC - Al Ittihad Aleppo
stunned last year's beaten AFC Champions League finalists Sepahan with a 2-0
win over the Iranian side in Group A action at the Foolad Shahr Stadium on
Wednesday.
The Syrians successfully withstood a second-half barrage by Jorvan Vieira's
side to win the tie after Jesus Gomez scored the opener following the
expulsion of Sepahan's Mohsen Bengar for hauling down Yahia Al Rached as he
bore down on goal.
Sepahan pushed throughout the second half for the equaliser, but the Hazfi
Cup winners were caught off guard with three minutes remaining when
Abdulfatah Al Agha doubled Al Ittihad's lead, sealing the three points in
the process.
Al Ittihad had unhappy memories of their last meeting with the Iranian side,
a 5-0 home loss in Aleppo last May, but they put that game to rest with a
memorable result in Esfahan.
The visitors took control of midfield in the early stages although the game
turned on an incident in the 19th minute when Al Rached received a long ball
from the back and ran in on goal before being fouled by Bengar as he was
about to enter the penalty box.
Australian referee Ben Williams had no hesitation in giving the Sepahan
defender his marching orders and from the resulting free kick, Venezuelan
striker Gomez extracted full revenge, firing a right-footed shot past
Sepahan goalkeeper Abbas Mohammadi.
Sepahan nearly responded in the 28th minute with a free kick taken by
Hossein Kazemi that went over the crossbar.
Just before the break, Iraqi midfielder Abdul Wahab Abolheil fired in a long
range effort which skimmed off the ground and rebounded off the body of
goalkeeper Mahmoud Karkar before being cleared by the Al Ittihad defence.
He then had another chance in stoppage time with a shot that Karkar managed
to punch away.
Despite being a man down, Sepahan continued to attack in the second half
with Al Ittihad content to sit back and defend their lead.
Abolheil and Iraqi compatriot Emad Mohamad both missed good chances to level
the score before the visitors put the match away three minutes from time as
Al Agha picked up the ball in his own half and ran all the way into the
Sepahan box before firing a powerful shot past Mohammadi.
Sepahan thought that they had pulled back a consolation goal in the first
minute of stoppage time when Emad put the ball past Karkar but the effort
was ruled out for offside.
