Aleksandar Mitrovic celebrates after scoring Al Rayyan's first goal.
Doha, Qatar: Aleksandar Mitrovic and Roger Guedes struck late to give Al Rayyan SC a 2-0 victory over Oman’s Al Nahda Club in their AFC Champions League Two Group C match at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium yesterday.
The win, Al Rayyan’s second in a row over the Omani side, took them to nine points and strengthened their bid to secure a place in the Round of 16, with the top two teams in the group advancing.
Mitrovic could have put Al Rayyan ahead after five minutes when he powered a header from Ahmed Al Ganehi’s flick towards goal but unfortunately for the Serbian, the ball came back off the crossbar.
Quick movement by Al Nahda saw space open up for Jameel Al Yahmadi in the 11th minute, the midfielder pouncing on Karim Darwich’s return pass to drive into the box but smashed his effort straight at goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada.
The home side spurned another opportunity in the 28th minute when Wesley Ribeiro chested a long ball, beat Amjad Abdullah but could only send his attempt into the side netting.
Abunada had to work hard to tip over Thani Al Rushaidi’s header before coming out tops again late in the first half to deny Abdullah after the forward was allowed to surge from the halfway line unchallenged.
After a balanced start to the second half, the game swung in favour of Al Rayyan thanks to the introduction of Guedes and Otavio, which added fresh attacking impetus to their play.
Otavio’s corner delivery in the 66th minute was misjudged by Faiyz Al Rushedi, Guedes headed the ball towards goal but defender Al Rushaidi managed to clear away the danger.
Al Nadha, however, could do nothing in the 78th minute as Al Rayyan opened the scoring when Guedes spotted Mitrovic had peeled away from his marker, the latter comfortably curling his effort past a diving Al Rusheidi.
Guedes put away Al Rayyan’s second in the 86th minute after Wesley’s strike had deflected off the unlucky Al Rushaidi with the Brazilian kept onside by Abdullah.
The goal sparked confrontation between the two sets of players with Al Nahda’s Mohammed Mubarak shown a second yellow card for bumping Diogo Amaro off the ball as the visitors suffered the third defeat of their campaign.
