Jhon Duran scored twice and Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty as Al Nassr beat Esteghlal 3-0 on Monday to advance to the Asian Champions League Elite last eight. Al-Sadd defeated Al Wasl. Akram Afif scored in Al-Sadd’s 3-1 triumph in Doha and guided Felix Sanchez’s team to a 4-2 aggregate win over the UAE.
Al Nassr’s triumph in Riyadh followed a 0-0 stalemate in Tehran last week and sent Stefano Pioli’s club to the quarterfinals in Jeddah as part of a centralised competition from April 25th to May 3rd.
At nine minutes, Duran scored for Al Nassr by lifting the ball over Seyed Hossein Hosseini after the Esteghlal goalkeeper gave him control 25 meters from goal.
After Mohammad Niknafs’ mistimed challenge on Sadio Mane, Cristiano Ronaldo confidently converted a penalty in the 27th minute to extend the Saudis’ lead.
Esteghlal’s work was made practically difficult when Mehran Ahmadi was sent off for a second bookable offense late in the first half for catching Mohammed Al Fatil’s face with a swinging arm.
After hitting the post as Al Nassr passed, Duran scored his second goal six minutes from time with a low shot into the bottom corner.
