FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S Al Khaldiya suffered a tough 1-2 defeat to Tractor FC of Iran last night in the first leg of their round-of-16 clash in the 2024-25 AFC Champions League (ACL) Two.
Mohammed Al Rumaihi opened the scoring for the Bahrainis just three minutes into the second-half, but the visitors responded immediately with back-to-back goals just five minutes apart. Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh scored the equaliser and then Croatian Domagoj Drozdek fired in the match winner in a thrilling encounter at the National Stadium in Riffa.
Tractor now head to the return leg on Tuesday next week with a single-goal advantage. That match will be played at Yadegar-E-Imam Stadium in the Iranian city of Tabriz.
Despite yesterday’s defeat, Khaldiya head coach Ali Ashoor remained positive and expressed confidence in his players and their ability to fight with their backs against the wall.
“The character of our players is something positive about our team,” Ashoor told the GDN post game. “We are playing against a big opponent – Tractor are at the top of their league in Iran and they claimed all the points during the group stage. The age of their club is 54 years, and ours is only four years, so the difference between us and them is 50 years.
“This is what we are hoping to build on. We have many international players, who have a lot of experience in these kinds of competitions, and even our local players are great, so we have a very strong mentality.
“In the dressing room just now, our president gave us a message of motivation. We consider this match to be the first half, so the second half in Tabriz we hope will be a stronger game for us, inshaallah.”
Tractor’s Croatian head coach Dragan Skocic commented: “We are not happy with the game – we did not play at our level, but I am sure we will play better in Tabriz with our supporters.
“It is also sometimes important that when you don’t play well, you win the game, and today this happened.”
Both teams had a number of chances in the opening 45 minutes. Khaldiya’s best early opportunity came in the 13th when Ahmed Bughammar hit the left post on a header from close range. He connected on a cross delivered by Serbian teammate Filip Ivanovic from the right, but could not find the net.
Al Rumaihi, Mahdi Humaidan, and Gleison Wilson Da Silva Moreira also had chances, while Khaldiya goalkeeper Mohamed Abdelrahim Elgharably helped preserve the goalless score line with key saves before the break.
After the re-start, Al Rumaihi broke through with a 48th minute strike in the face of goal. He slotted in a pass from fellow-Bahrain international Humaidan from the right of the box, after Moreira cleverly allowed the ball to pass between his feet and on to a poaching Al Raumaihi.
Khaldiya’s celebrations were short-lived, however, as just two minutes later, Hosseinzadeh tapped in from the goalmouth off a pass from Mohammad Naderi.
Tractor then took a stunning lead in the 55th minute when Drozdek sent in a brilliant right-footed effort from the left of the area for a crucial second away goal. Drozdek managed to create some space between four Khaldiya players and unleashed a well-hit shot that flew past Elgharably to the right of the net.
Khaldiya tried valiantly to draw level over the remainder of the contest and both Dhurghan Ismail and Mahdi Abduljabbar nearly scored. Elgharably also did well to deny the Iranians a third, which included a crucial stop on a Hashemnezhad attempt with two minutes left in regular time.
The victors in this round-of-16 head-to-head will move on to the ACL Two quarter-finals, which are scheduled for March. The semi-finals will be held in April before the tournament culminates in a single-game final on May 17.
The ACL Two is the second-tier club competition of the AFC. Rebranded from the AFC Cup, it is one level below the AFC Champions League Elite and one above the AFC Challenge League.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))