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Al Nasr lose to Sepahan 0-3 to stay out of contention

The UAE Football Team Al Nasr are currently out of contention of the AFC Championship following their 3-0 loss to Sepahan of Iran in the AFC Champions League fifth round match of Group "C" played this evening at Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai. The two teams started the game with different ambitions as Al Nasr who have collected only three points before the encounter kicked off, endeavored to snatch the three points so as to double their chance for qualifying to the next stage while Sepahan were trying to win to raise their balance to 10 points in order to secure themselves a berth in the last 16. But the visitors won the game and raised their tally to 10 points while Al Nasr are sitting at the bottom of the table with only three points.

The hosts lost the efforts of their Italian professional player Luca Toni in this important match due to injury while he was warming up a few minutes before the beginning of the game. Al Nasr's coach Walter Zinga brought him out, but was not able to register another player in his 18-list according to the rules.

Both teams made good efforts from the very start to make their dreams come true for Sepahan to come closer to take the lead only 14 minutes into the game when Mehdi Kremyan's close-range shot rebounded off the upright and cleared away afterwards by a defender. Al Nasr also created a similar sitter five minutes later when their players exchanged short and perfect passes inside the box, but the visitors' goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi was able to save his net after clearing the ball away before Australian Breciano could control it. Breciano tested his luck in the 30th minute off a long-rang ball which he sent it over the advancing goalie but for his bad fortune it missed the target. Al Nasr put more pressure on their rivals' defense but all their work was in vain as the Iranian defenders spoiled all their attempts.

The two squads continued their attempts in order to score the first goal with Al Nasr relatively the better side but it was Sepahan who opened the scoring when their player Brazilian Bruno Cesar capitalized on a defensive error to hook the ball over the advancing goalkeeper Abdullah Mousa to give his side the lead in the 44th minute to ended the first half with a solitary goal for the visitors.

Al Nasr's custodian Abdullah Mousa was given marching orders five minutes after the break following a clash with the Albanian player Sukaj who tried to score off the ball which was passed by Sepahan players to Al Nasr's goalkeeper after the home team players sent the ball outside to allow treatment for one of the visitors' injured player, but Sukaj tried to catch the ball and score for Abdullah Mousa to clash with him and the referee punished him with a red card and a penalty. But the Iranian player Hameed Ibrahimi, with a signal from his coach, passed the ball deliberately to the Al Nasr's substitiute goalkeeper Mohammed Abdullah showing high spirit of sportsmanship after only five minutes from the start of the second session. Al Nasr created an invaluable opportunity to reduce the deficit off a penalty when the winners' goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi brought Amara Diane down inside the box in the 54th minute. Diane failed to score as the goalie returned it towards Diane who failed to drive it home for the second time.

The Albanian player Sukaj netted the second goal in the 69th minute to make things difficult for Al Nasr and his teammate Mahdi Sayed Salehi put the game beyond the reach of the hosts when he scored the third goal in the 77th minute off a perfect header.

Al Nasr tried every bit of effort in the final minutes of the game to reduce the deficit while the Iranians endeavored to add more goals, but the situation remained as it is up to the final whistle.  

In the second match held this evening at Thani Bin Jasim Stadium in Doha, the Qatari team Al Garrafa beat Al Shabab 2-1 to raise their tally to six points while the losers have lost their last chance and dashed their hopes to stay at the bottom of Group "D" with only two points.