Turkmen “Ahal” in the match of the 1st round of the AFC Champions League played a draw with the Emirates club “Shabab Al-Ahli” (1:0). The meeting was held today at the stadium “King Abdullah Sorts City” in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia).
The teams exchanged goals in the second half. “Ahal” took the lead thanks to a goal from defender Abdy Byashimov in the 75th minute. Three minute later, the Uzbek midfielder Aziz Ganiev scored a return goal from the penalty spot.
The goalkeeper of “Ahal” Resul Charyev, who saved a number of shots from outside the penalty area was one of the main heroes of the meeting.
It should be noted, that in terms of the cost of the squad, according to Transfermarkt data, “Shabab Al-Ahli” is noticeably superior “Ahal” – 17,33 million € against 1,35 million €.
The Iranian “Foolad” and the Qatari team “Al-Gharafa” played a draw 0:0 in another match of group C.
“Ahal” is the debutant of the AFC Champions League. He won the right to play in the main club tournament of Asia, taking second place in the championship of Turkmenistan-2021. “Ahal” – is only the second club in the history of Turkmenistan, that debuted in the AFC Champions League. The last time Turkmen clubs played in the AFC Champions League in 20003. Then the Ashgabat “Nisa” reached the quarterfinal group tournament, as a result of which they could not break into the top four teams in Asia.
“Ahal” will play against “Al-Gharafa”, and “Shabab Al-Ahli” will face “Foolad” in the next round on April 10.
