Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Pakhtakor handed Al Jazira a 3-0 defeat in Group C of the 2016 AFC Champions League on Tuesday but it was not enough to secure the Uzbek side a place in the knockout phase of the competition.
Numon Khasanov’s team needed to defeat the club from the United Arab Emirates and hope to record a better result than Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in their meeting with Tractorsazi Tabriz in the other game in the group.
Pakhtakor registered the win as required thanks to goals from Sukhrob Berdiev, Timur Talipov and Jalaloddin Masharipov, but Al Hilal’s 2-1 win against the group leaders was enough to deny Pakhtakor a place in the Round of 16.
The home side took the lead with just 12 minutes on the clock when Sherzodbek Karimov’s free kick from the left side was curled low and towards goal, where Khalif Al Senaani fumbled the ball into Berdiev’s path and he poked his attempt over the line.
Eleven minutes later Pakhtakor doubled their advantage when another free kick from the left side of the home side’s attack caused even more trouble as Talipov struck his in-swinging effort from 35 yards towards a gaggle of players just inside the area.
No one touched the ball as it bounced through, and Al Senaani misread its movement as it beat him to his left before nestling in the corner of the goal.
Al Jazira’s hopes of forcing their way back into the game suffered a serious blow five minutes from the end of the half when Saeed Hizam picked up his second booking of the game with a late tackle on Davronbek Khashimov, reducing the visitors to 10 men for all of the second half.
Pakhtakor pushed for a third, with Igor Sergeev twice going close in the opening 15 minutes of the second period, hitting the side netting after rounding the keeper with his first before volleying over the bar from 12 yards out with his next attempt.
The third eventually came nine minutes from time when Masharipov ran in on goal before lobbing the ball over Al Senaani for a perfectly taken goal.
Oybek Kilichev’s sending off a minute from the end tarnished what was to prove to be a bittersweet win for the Tashkent-based club, who finished the group stage with 10 points but just one adrift of second-placed Al Hilal.
Photo: Lagardère Sports