AFC - Al Ittihad Aleppo fought
back from a goal down to hand last year's AFC Champions League finalists
Sepahan a 2-1 defeat on Wednesday evening, ending the Iranian side's hopes
of progressing to the knockout phase and sending Kuruvchi into the
quarter-finals.
Goals from Venezuelan pair Jonathan Perez and Jesus Gomez in four second
half minutes denied Sepahan the win they needed to keep their chase of the
Uzbeks alive going into the final round of matches.
The result means Kuruvchi cannot be overtaken at the top of Group A and
Mirdjalal Kasimov's team will go through to the last eight in their debut
season in the continental championship.
Hadi Aghily had controversially put Sepahan in front in the 47th minute when
his header was deflected towards the target and a goal was awarded despite
Yahya Al Rached looking like he had cleared the ball before it had crossed
the line.
Sepahan went close to doubling their advantage in the 57th minute when
Abdulwahab Abuhail crashed his shot against the crossbar from 25 yards out
before Seyed Mohammed Salehi pushed the rebound over the line, only for the
assistant referee to raise his flag to rule the effort out.
Four minutes later, though, Al Ittihad pulled level thanks to a top class
finish by Perez, whose right foot effort from just inside the penalty area
seared into the top corner.
By the 65th minute the Syrian side were in front thanks to another high
quality strike when Gomez was first to react after Masoud Hamami had saved
Otobng Otudor's header to curl his shot high into the goal.
The result was a cruel blow for a Sepahan side who dominated the game
throughout the 90 minutes.
Mohsen Bengar forced a fine reaction save from Yasser Jarkas just eight
minutes into the game while six minutes later Iraqi international striker
Emad Mohammed thought he had put Sepahan in front when he slotted the ball
past Jarkas, only for his effort to be ruled out for offside.
As it was, though, Sepahan were incapable of securing the win needed to keep
their challenge alive and Jorvan Vieira's side exited the tournament as they
failed to match the heroics of last season.
