In the Asian Champions League on Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo’s 10-man Al-Nassr team managed to draw 0-0 with Persepolis of Iran because to his honesty, which also helped to negate a penalty he was given. Early in the match, Ronaldo went down in the box, and the referee pointed to the spot. However, Ronaldo and the Persepolis players disagreed with the call. Referee Ma Ning reversed his ruling after consulting the pitchside monitor.
After a risky challenge on Milad Sarlak, Al-Nassr defender Ali Lajimi was sent off in the first half, while Ronaldo’s injury to his neck gave his Saudi Arabian teammates a late fright.
However, Al-Nassr had already won Group E and progressed undefeated to the knockout stages. The Riyadh squad entered the match having triumphed in 18 of its previous 19 contests across all competitions.
Al-Duhail of Qatar won its first game in the same group, defeating Istiklol of Tajikistan 2-0. Both goals were scored by prolific Kenyan striker Michael Olunga.
Earlier in Group C, the Saudi Arabian champion overcame AGMK of Uzbekistan 2-1 to advance to the knockout stages, giving Argentine coach Marcelo Gallardo his first victory since joining Al-Ittihad this month.
After Karim Benzema squandered opportunities, Moroccan attacker Abderrazak Hamdallah gave Al-Ittihad the lead with two goals in four first-half minutes. Martin Boakye gave AGMK a late goal to tie the score in Tashkent.
“We had to work hard from the first whistle but we kept trying to get forward as much as we could and Hamdallah came good with two well-taken goals,” Gallardo said.
The competition is split into two geographic half until the final, and the top team from each of the ten groups of four advances to the round of 16, along with the six best-placed runners-up.
Delhi's air quality worsened on Tuesday as the Air Quality Index (AQI) fell into the…
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will attend inauguration of President-elect Donald…
Protests against the proposed ropeway project at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra, Jammu,…
IPL 2025 Mega Auction concluded with historic moments, including Rishabh Pant’s record-breaking ₹27 crore signing…
Senior IPS officer Rashmi Shukla reappointed as Director General of Police (DGP) for Maharashtra after…
The SC on Monday instructed CAQM to act against officers and entities failing to enforce…