DOHA (Qatar): Head coach Rui Vitoria found positives in his Al Nassr side’s 5-3 penalty shootout defeat to Persepolis in the semi-final of the 2020 AFC Champions League on Saturday.
Current top scorer Abderrazak Hamdallah broke the deadlock on 36 minutes from the spot after Bashar Resan had conceded a penalty, before the Iraqi made amends just six minutes later by assisting teammate Mehdi Abdi Qara’s headed equaliser to put the Iran Pro League champions back in the reckoning.
Both sides sparred across the rest of the 90 minutes and Persepolis were reduced to 10 men halfway through extra time, when midfielder Ehsan Pahlavan received his marching orders after accumulating a second yellow card for a challenge against Abdulrahman Al Dossari.
It was down to penalties despite heavy bombardment from Al Nassr in the final minutes of extra time. After three converted attempts for each side, Al Nassr defender Maicon was denied by goalkeeper Hamed Lak allowing Ali Shojaei the opportunity to beat Brad Jones from the spot to put Persepolis through, which he duly achieved.
“Congratulations to my team and players as they fought very hard. Everyone saw how Al Nassr showed character and put in a series of good performances in the competition,” said Vitoria.
“Both teams who came this far deserved to be here, but to play seven games in such a short span of time is very difficult. It is tiring physically and mentally for the players. We only trained for five days before this competition, so we needed more time.” (Source: AFC)
