No article here for the AFC Champions League Final here?! What the hell is going on at this forum right now? Most important game of the day and not a word is spoken, interesting. Al Sadd had to go through the entire qualifying process to get here and interestingly enough were only 2-4-0 in the group stage but still made the knockout stage. They should have not made it past the quarterfinals but their idiot opponents used an ineligible player which turned a 1-0 win for Sepahan into a 0-3 defeat.Former Portsmouth defender Nadir Belhadj held his nerve to fire home the crucial penalty as Al Sadd won a dramatic Asian Champions League final against Jeonbuk Motors at Jeonju World Cup Stadium.
With the game finishing 2-2 after extra time, Belhadj drove the deciding spot-kick into the corner of the net after Al Sadd keeper Mohamed Saqr had denied both Kim Dong-chan and Park Won-jae.
It was a dramatic end to an eventful contest that saw Jeonbuk hit the woodwork four times and Al Sadd reduced to 10 men just before the end of extra time.
Eninho had already tested Saqr in the opening minutes when the Brazilian put Jeonbuk in front after 17 minutes.
The midfielder was brought down on the left edge of the box and made Al Sadd pay as he curled a fine free-kick into the far side of the net.
Al Sadd hit back in the 29th minute when Abdulkader Keita's cross was headed into his own net by Sim Woo-yeon and the teams went in level at the interval.
Kim could only sidefoot straight at Saqr early in the second half when in a good position before the Al Sadd keeper managed to tip Eninho's vicious inswinging corner against the bar.
Al Sadd took the lead after 63 minutes when a low cross from the left picked out Keita and the striker took a touch before producing a clinical finish as he fired low into the bottom corner from just inside the box.
Six minutes later, Kim saw his header from Eninho's corner come back off the far post before the substitute's overhead kick was cleared off the line and Jeong Shung-hoon blazed over the bar.
Saqr produced a brilliant save to deny Jeong three minutes from time when he pushed the striker's low shot through a crowded box against the post three minutes from the end.
However, Jeonbuk snatched an equaliser in stoppage time when Lee Sung-hyun headed Eninho's corner home from close range at the back post.
Lee Dong-gook sliced a good opportunity wide from eight yards in the first period of extra time and Saqr denied Jeong with a fantastic save with seven minutes to go, pushing his shot past the post after Abdulla Koni's slip had let the Jeonbuk striker in.
The hosts again hit the woodwork shortly afterwards when Eninho's corner struck an Al Sadd defender but bounced off the base of the post before substitute Afif collected a second booking a minute from the end for bringing down Choi Chul-soon and the game went to penalties.
The first three spot-kicks all found the back of the net before Kim blasted straight at Saqr.
Lee Jang-soo then hit the bar for Al Sadd but Saqr denied Park. Ibrahim Majed blasted into the corner and Kim Sang-sik scored before Belhadj drilled the winning penalty into the back of the net.
Last edited by Weather130 on Sun Nov 06, 2011 8:03 am; edited 1 time in total
