AFC Champions League Elite
Steven Bergwijn put Al Ittihad ahead before Caio Canedo levelled in the 62nd minute, with Pimenta netting a last-gasp winner to snatch the three points for Jose Morais’ men.
The home side dominated from the start, but their first crack came only in the 11th minute when captain Omar Khrbin received a through ball from Dusan Tadic and controlled it nicely only to see keeper Predrag Rajkovic swat his shot away.
Al Ittihad, however, scored against the run of play with their first shot at goal in the 21st minute when Bergwijn picked up a pass from Fabinho down the middle and fired a smasher from 30 yards that swirled past Zayed Alhammadi.
The goal failed to deter Al Wahda, who continued to surge forward through Khrbin, who saw his exchange with Tadic in the 27th minute kneed out of play by Rajkovic.
The visitors found themselves reduced to 10 men in the 37th minute when Muhannad Al Shanqiti was sent off after a VAR review for a foul on Facundo Kruspzky.
Al Wahda tried to press home their numerical advantage in the last minutes of the first half, but good play from defender Saad Al Mosa and Rajkovic saw their efforts come to naught.
The Emirate side continued pushing after the break, with Tadic rattling the crossbar with his header from the centre in the 50th minute following a corner and Khrbin and Kruspzky both missing their attempts soon after.
Caio Canedo, however, made no mistake in the 62nd minute when he rolled home the equaliser past a flailing Rajkovic from the edge of the six-yard box after latching onto a pass from Khrbin.
Khrbin, always in the thick of the action, saw his header from the centre go just wide of the right post after a pin-point pass from Ruben Filipe in the 79th minute.
The Al Wahda captain’s last look at goal saw his close-range header two minutes into stoppage time bounce off the right post, bounce again against Rajkovic’s leg and cleared away by Danilo Luis.
Pimenta then pounced on a rebound to slot home the winner from close range after Rajkovic saved Ala Zhir’s header in the dying minutes of the match.
Related News
- AFC Champions League Elite
MD1: Al Ahli Saudi FC (KSA) 4-2 PFC Nasaf (UZB)
- AFC Champions League Elite
MD1: Sharjah FC (UAE) 4-3 Al Gharafa SC (QAT)
- AFC Champions League Elite
MD1: Al Shorta (IRQ) 1-1 Al Sadd SC (QAT)
- AFC Champions League Elite
Preview: Al Hilal SFC (KSA) v Al Duhail SC (QAT)
- AFC Champions League Elite
Preview: Shabab Al Ahli (UAE) v Tractor FC (IRN)
Item 1 of 5