Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Tashkent: Al Nassr coach Jorge da Silva praised goalkeeper Abdullah Al Enezi and his defence after his side’s 1-0 win over Bunyodkor in Group A of the AFC Champions League on Wednesday in what the Uruguayan called his side’s “hardest game” so far.
Polish midfielder Adrian Mierzejewski scored the only goal of the game just after the hour mark to keep the Saudi Arabian side’s hopes of progressing to the Round of 16 alive, with Al Enazi is fine form to deny a Bunyodkor side that was already eliminated.
ACL MD5 – Group A: Bunyodkor 0-1 Al Nassr
“It has been a very tough match for both teams,” said da Silva (pictured). “We played against a strong team and collected the three points. I am happy with the victory.
“We tried to keep the result in the second half but Bunyodkor are a good team. It is not easy to win against this team away from home. Our defenders played very well tonight.
“I think it was the hardest game for us in the AFC Champions League so far. Our goalkeeper also saved our team on several occasions.”
The three points mean Al Nassr go into their meeting with Lekhwiya knowing victory will take them through to the Round of 16, potentially at the expense of the newly crowned Qatar Stars League champions.
For Bunyodkor, however, there was little consolation from a game that saw the Uzbeks lose for the fourth time in five games. The Tashkent based club have yet to win the in 2015 AFC Champions League, picking up just a solitary point from a draw with Al Nassr on Matchday One.
Bunyodkor’s hopes of picking up something against Al Nassr were scuppered in the 70th minute when Anvar Gafurov was sent off for a second bookable offence, but coach Sergey Lushchan is choosing to look towards the future.
“I am not pleased with the result,” he said. “Nothing changed in our game, even with 10 players we created chances and didn’t take them.
“Unfortunately we have no experienced foreign players such Michael Weiss or Mierzejvski. We are focusing on our young players and their improvement and we will continue our style.
“There are very good facilities in our football academy, even some big European teams don’t have this kind of academy and we should give a chance to the young players. I think we will improve as a team from year to year and after some time we will begin to see good results.”
Photo: WSG