Al Duhail head coach Hernan Crespo credited his side’s concentration and confidence for their come-from-behind 4-3 victory over Al Taawoun in the AFC Champions League Group D’s top-of-the-table clash on Friday night. The Qatari side went into the halftime break with a 3-1 disadvantage but turned on the style after the restart and were rewarded with three goals.
Edmilson swept home Almoez Ali’s cross to reduce the deficit, before adding his sixth of the campaign from the penalty spot and club captain Ali headed home two minutes from time to win it for Al Duhail.
“I am very happy with this win and with qualifying to the next round as group leaders,” said Crespo. “The victory came after a very difficult match, both technically and physically. Although we were behind in the first half as a result of leaving spaces for the opponents and making some mistakes, we entered the second half with full concentration and succeeded in achieving a comeback and took home the three points.”
Having lost the reverse fixture to Al Taawoun on the opening matchday, Crespo’s men bounced back emphatically, winning all four games since then, to run away with the top spot in the group with a game to spare. “Our level was on the rise after the loss in the first game. We were confident and imposed our style in all previous matches, which helped us achieve positive results and qualify to the Round of 16.”
A second defeat of the campaign for Al Taawoun left them in need of a victory on the last matchday and hopeful of other results going their way, and head coach John van den Brom was not pleased with conceding twice in the last 10 minutes to drop points from a leading position.
“I am disappointed with the way we lost the match and the goals scored against our team,” said the Dutchman. “I think that small mistakes cost us the opportunity to maintain the lead and come away with the victory. We played at the highest level and created a lot of chances, scoring three goals in the first half and we had a chance to add more goals in the second half, but we didn’t succeed in that and therefore we lost a game. After this loss, we made it difficult for ourselves, and therefore we have to win against Pakhtakor in the last round and wait to see if we can qualify for the next round.”

Al Gharafa look towards the future
Al Gharafa’s hopes of qualifying to the next stage was extinguished after the Qatari side lost 0-1 to Foolad Khouzestan. With the defeat, Gharafa will finish in third place irrespective of the result against Ahal FC.
Al Gharafa entered the must-win match aiming to prove a point after losing 8-2  to Shabab Al Ahli Dubai. But the Iranians started on the front foot when Brazil’s Shimba added his name on the scoresheet for the first time in the campaign. They were in control for most of the match before Al Gharafa piled the pressure late in the tie as Foolad staggered over the finishing line.
Gharafa head coach Andrea Stramaccioni praised his young players for showing great character following a big defeat earlier in the week.
“The team reacted very well. We had four, five, six chances but their goalkeeper was the best player on the pitch. We are not happy because we lost the game but we can be positive because the team on the pitch has a clear idea of how to play football and this is very important,” said the Italian.
“In the second half we played a fantastic game. We lost our only striker in the first half and produced many chances. We did not deserve to lose. If we forget the last game (against Shabab Al Ahli Dubai), Al Gharafa have played well and we have one more match to go. It has been a long time since the team played in the AFC Champions League but now we have a good crop of players and we can build for the future.”