Al Ain of the Emirates and Nasaf of Uzbekistan will meet in the second leg of the eighth final on the 21st of this month in Al Ain (social networking sites)
Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates returned with a valuable goalless draw away from home with Nasaf of Uzbekistan - today, Wednesday - at the Qarshi Central Stadium in the first leg of the AFC Champions League football semi-final.
The two teams will meet again on the 21st of this month in the Emirati city of Al Ain.
Al Ain repeated as champions of the 2003 edition of the continental competition with Nasaf at the same stadium, but in the group stage, with a score of 1-1 in the 2016 edition, before defeating them in the second leg 2-0 at the “Hazza Bin Zayed” Stadium.
The goalless draw does not reflect the number of wasted opportunities, which Sharov Mukhitinov started with a strong shot that hit Al Ain defender Khaled Al Hashemi, then the net from the top and went into a corner (28).
📸 Nasaf and Al Ain match https://t.co/vcofRbrhJt #Al Ain Club pic.twitter.com/dqBlrsXrmo
- Al Ain Club (@alainfcae) February 14, 2024
Moroccan Sofiane Rahimi responded with a corner kick that goalkeeper Abderrahmane Nematov cleared before deceiving him (30).
Boyor Abdulkhalikov wasted a strange opportunity after he shot outside while facing Khaled Issa's goal (36), before the latter excelled in blocking Obek Bozorov's shot (42).
Rahimi returned to threaten the hosts' goal with a shot from a direct free kick that hit the crossbar (45+2), and the UAE team was unlucky again after Bandar Al Ahbabi's shot hit the post (89).
Al Ain and Nassaf qualified for the quarter-finals by topping the first and second groups, respectively.
Source: Agencies