Al Hilal 1-2 Esteghlal

Salem Al Dawsari appeared to have put the home side on the road to victory at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium when his superb finish midway through the second half ended the stiff resistance of Esteghlal goalkeeper Mehdi Rahmati.

However, Pejman Montazeri restored parity with a thumping header before substitute Arash Borhani completed the comeback with a cool finish in the 86th minute that gave the Tehran side the three points.

They moved to the top of the Group with seven points, one ahead of Al Ain and four in front of Esteghlal, who they will meet again next week at the Azadi Stadium.

“"We achieved a good win especially after going a goal down,” said Esteghlal coach Amir Ghalenoei.
“Al Hilal controlled the game and they managed to score, but their players became tired mainly after the 70th minute and this helped us to get back into the game.
“We controlled the last 15 minutes and scored two goals which helped us to win. We played with good tactics and the players followed the instructions very well and showed good determination to get back home with an important victory.”

It had been a decade since the traditional rivals had last clashed in the AFC Champions League but such is the nature of their long-time rivalry that neither seemed prepared to sit back early on.

It took just 15 seconds for Al Hilal to fashion the first real opportunity as Al Dawsari, who was returning from suspension, received the ball on the right of the Esteghlal box but shot wide.

Mohammed Al Shalhoub very nearly caught out Rahmati with a quickly taken free-kick that went narrowly wide while at the other end, Seyediman Moosavi blazed over from 15 metres with the Al Hilal goal seemingly at his mercy.

Rahmati was the busier of the goalkeepers as the first half came to a close, tipping over Ozeia’s dipping shot from the left edge of the Esteghlal box before turning aside a vicious low shot by Nawaf Al Abid that threatened to sneak in at his near post.

As the first half came to a close, Moosavi beat the Al Hilal offside trap but pulled his shot wide from a narrow angle.

Yasser Al Qahtani missed a glorious opportunity for the home side six minutes after the break when he was found unmarked by Al Dawsari’s cross from the right but put his header wide.

He then snapped up a loose clearance just outside the Esteghlal box and launched a fierce volley that flew past Rahmati but rocked the crossbar.

Rahmati was kept busy as he stopped attempts by Al Abid and Gustavo Bolivar before his resistance was finally broken in the 67th minute.

Substitute Wesley (Wesley Lopes da Silva) lobbed a pass from the halfway line towards the right of the Esteghlal box, where Salman Al Faraj cut the ball back for Al Dawsari to fire a low effort into the bottom corner of net.

Esteghlal responded by bringing in Borhani and they enjoyed a period of pressure before they got the equaliser with 10 minutes left. Mojtaba Jabbari floated in a free-kick from the right flank and Montazeri rose above Al Hilal defence to thump home a header.

Al Hilal pushed forward as they sought to regain their lead but they were caught out with four minutes left when Borhani ran on to a through ball and shook off the challenges of Majed Al Marshadi and Bolivar before stroking the ball past goalkeeper Abdullah Mohammed.

The goal took the wind out of the home side and Esteghlal held on through five minutes of stoppage time to record a famous win.

“I’m not satisfied with the performance and the form of the players. We knew that our team showed their best until the 70th minute but the game changed afterwards and we conceded two goals,” said Al Hilal coach Zlatko Dalic.
“We asked the players to avoid long crosses due to the height advantage of the Esteghlal players and we tried to use quick low passes through Mohammed Al Shalhoub.
“I hope that we can recover from this defeat and get a good result in the next game.”