Rajabzadeh strike gives Zob Ahan 1-0 victory at Lekhwiya

Mahdi Rajabzadeh’s rapid fire strike in the opening minute of the second half was enough to ensure Zob Ahan started their 2016 AFC Champions League campaign with a 1-0 win over Qatar Stars League champions Lekhwiya yesterday.Rajabzadeh scored with less than a minute on the second-half clock to give Yahya Golmohammadi’s side all three points in the teams’ opening Group B clash at Abdulla bin Khalifa Stadium.Lekhwiya had started brightly and, within the opening three minutes, Djamal Belmadi’s side could have taken the lead, only for Zob Ahan goalkeeper Mohamed Rashid Mazaheri to drop quickly to the left to push Alain Dioko’s low shot away from goal before Walid Ismail hacked the ball to safety.At the other end, Morteza Tabrezi threatened when he burst down the right before sending in a low cross that forced Lekhwiya goalkeeper Amine Lecomte to drop low to collect, but it was the Qataris who looked the more likely to score in the opening 45 minutes.With 32 minutes on the clock, Ismail Mohamed produced the most spectacular effort of the half when he sent his right foot shot just over the bar from well outside the penalty area, and just minutes later he went close again, this time finding the side netting with a scissor kick six yards out.But, after a disappointing opening 45 minutes, Zob Ahan came out firing on all cylinders at the start of the second half and with little more than 30 seconds on the clock the Iranians had taken the lead.The goal-scoring move from Golmohammadi’s side started on the edge of their own penalty area after the Qataris gave away possession cheaply and within seconds Tabrezi was slotting the ball into the path of Rajabzadeh, who scored from an acute angle.Zob Ahan could have gone two goals up on the hour mark, only for Mahdi Mahdipour’s shot from outside the penalty area to sear just wide of Lecomte’s right post as the Iranians continued to maintain the pressure.Five minutes later they went closer still, only this time Kaveh Rezaei’s well-struck free kick from 25 yards out clipped the top of the crossbar after beating Lecomte for pace.Lekhwiya grew increasingly desperate as the game wore on, but Zob Ahan held on to deservedly take all three points.Megabucks Jiangsu flop in Asian openerMegabucks Chinese side Jiangsu Suning were expensive flops in their AFC Champions League opener when their newly assembled, star-studded line-up was held by 1-1 by 10-man Vietnamese outfit Binh Duong yesterday. Brazilians Ramires and Alex Teixeira, who consecutively smashed the Chinese transfer record this month, and ex-Manchester City striker Jo all failed to find the net in an inauspicious competitive debut. Dan Petrescu’s new-look team benefited from Christian Amougou’s dismissal in the 67th minute for diving, his second bookable offence, but still failed to break the defiant home side. Elsewhere on the first night of competition, China’s Shandong Luneng, led by ex-Brazil coach Mano Menezes, beat Sanfrecce Hiroshima 2-1 away and FC Seoul thumped Thailand’s Buriram United 6-0. In Vietnam’s Thu Dau Mot city, Jiangu’s night started encouragingly when Xiang Ji put them 1-0 up on 13 minutes, only for Anh Duc to level from the penalty spot near the half-hour. After half-time Teixeira, a 50 million euros signing from Shakhtar Donetsk, showed his trickery and vision as he set up Zhang Xinlin and Jo for gilt-edged chances which were both smothered by goalkeeper Bui Tan Truong. Ex-Chelsea midfielder Ramires also swept a long-range free kick wide in what was a frustrating night for Petrescu, another former player for the London club. While Jiangsu’s Brazilians left their scoring boots at home, their compatriot Adriano hammered four past Buriram United as FC Seoul began their campaign in emphatic style. Adriano’s quadruple either side of half-time left him alone on the scoresheet until Dejan Damjanovic and Lee Seok-Hyun weighed in to complete the rout in Buriram. Meanwhile, evergreen South Korean striker Lee Dong-Gook got the vital second goal for Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors as the 2006 winners started with a 2-1 victory over FC Tokyo.