Al-Ittihad’s struggles continue in Asia while Al-Hilal win again

JEDDAH: Al-Ittihad’s poor run of form continued on Monday with a 2-0 loss at Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in the Asian Champions League, a defeat that will pile more pressure on coach Nuno Santo.

The performance in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil was a disappointing one with the Tigers mustering just two shots on target.

After a run of five games in the Roshn Saudi League without a win had seen the Saudi champions slip 11 points behind leaders Al-Hilal, victory in Iraq could have seen the Jeddah giants book a place in the knockout stage with two games in Group C remaining.

They stay top with nine points from four games but now there is still work to do.

The early signs were not promising. A defensive mix-up after seven minutes led to Ibrahim Bayesh shooting against the post. Al-Ittihad came close to scoring on 21 minutes when Portuguese winger Jota cut inside from the left and his low shot from outside the area was turned around the post by the diving Mohammed Hameed.

Bayesh was involved in the opening goal that came just before the break. On the right, he found Mohannad Abdulraheem who cut the ball across to Ali Jasim who netted his fourth goal of the continental campaign so far past Abdullah Al-Mayouf who had made a flying save from the same forward moments before. A crowd of around 20,000 at the Franso Hariri Stadium were on their feet in delight.

Seven minutes after the restart the hosts doubled their advantage and Bayesh was there once again. His low cross from the right found its way to Abdulraheen, past a couple of wrong-footed defenders, and he shot into the bottom corner.

It could have got worse for the visitors as, with 20 minutes remaining, Jasim danced through a crowded area and the ball fell to Abdulraheen who pulled his shot wide from close range.

Despite their best efforts, Al-Ittihad, apart from an effort from Romarinho that almost bounced into the bottom corner, rarely looked like getting back into the game. Karim Benzema and his fellow attackers struggled to make an impact.

Al-Ittihad are still top but now just two points above Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya with two games left to play.

Later in the day, Al-Hilal beat Mumbai City 2-0 to stay top of Group D with 10 points. It was a dominant performance from the four-time champions who were well on top even before the hosts, cheered on by a crowd of more than 30,000, were reduced to 10 men. The dismissal came early in the second half as Mehtab Singh was shown a second yellow for a foul.

Salem Al-Dawsari, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Michael and others all had attempts on goal but until the second half, they could not find a way through.

However, it was not long before the visitors, who arrived in India after winning nine games in a row, took advantage of their extra man just after the hour. Mohammed Al-Breik sent over a perfect cross from the left that was buried into the back of the net by a powerful Michael header.

With five minutes remaining Mitrovic scored his 16th goal for Al-Hilal, getting to a Malcom cross at the right-hand post to head home from close range.

On Tuesday, Al-Nassr travel to Qatar to take on Al-Duhail while Al-Fayha host Al-Ain of the UAE.