Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tehran: Al Ahli head coach Christian Gross hit out at his team’s performance on Wednesday after the Saudi Arabian club slipped to a 1-0 defeat in the first leg of their AFC Champions League Round of 16 clash with Naft Tehran.
Gholamreza Rezaei scored the only goal of the game as the Iranians take a slender one-goal advantage into the second leg in Jeddah next week, but the former Tottenham Hotspur manager was less than pleased with the way his team performed.
ACL RD16: Naft Tehran 1-0 Al Ahli (KSA)
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“This is not a good result at all and I’m not satisfied with my players,” said the Swiss coach (pictured). “We lost a lot of possession easily in midfield and let them score.
“We had be more careful because Naft were very dangerous on the counter attack and if it wasn’t for our goalkeeper and his super save the result would not have remained 1-0.
“We have to show a far better performance in the second leg to be able to beat Naft and progress to the next round.”
Iran international striker Rezaei opened the scoring for Naft in the 34th minute and the home team had several opportunities to increase their advantage, most notably 12 minutes from time when Iman Mobali saw his curling free kick from 25 yards pushed onto the woodwork by Al Ahli goalkeeper Abdullah Al Muaiouf.
The save was one of several interventions made by the Saudi goalkeeper and Gross has called on the club’s fans to come out in support of their side as they seek to conclude their season on a high by progressing to the last eight of the AFC Champions League.
“Next week’s game against Naft will be our final match in current season and we need our fans to come to the stadium to support us,” he said.
Photo: WSG