Al-Nassr vs Neftchi 3-1

Al-Nassr beat Neftchi 3-1 at Al-Awwal Park after a second-half own goal brought the visitors level. The home side led 2-0 at the break, then took advantage of Neftchi’s red card before finishing the game with pressure on the visitors.

Al-Nassr went ahead in the 33rd minute when Angelo Borges scored from Nawaf Boushal’s assist to make it 1-0. Cristiano Ronaldo doubled the lead in the 42nd minute, finishing Ayman Yahya’s pass after Yahya had come on in the 13th minute. Neftchi briefly thought they had a route back just before the interval, but Marcus Forss had a 45th-minute goal ruled out by VAR. Al-Nassr led 2-0 at half-time.

Neftchi pulled one back in the 51st minute through Alisher Odilov, who had come on at half-time, and the visitors stayed in the contest until Ikromzhon Alibaev was sent off in the 65th minute. Al-Nassr made two changes on 72 minutes, while Neftchi kept reshaping their attack, but the equaliser arrived in the 78th minute when Anvarjon Gofurov put through his own net for 2-2. Al-Nassr then held their shape through the closing minutes and finished with the winner after that recovery had been undone.

The numbers pointed to Al-Nassr’s control. They had 62% of the possession, 563 passes to Neftchi’s 288, 16 shots to 8 and 2.19 expected goals to 0.59. Neftchi matched them on corners at 5-5, but Al-Nassr had more shots on target, 3-2, and fewer fouls, 4-13. Offsides finished 3-4 and saves 0-1.

Bookings were spread across both sides. Neftchi’s cautions went to Ibrokhimkhalil Yuldoshev in the 17th minute, Anvarjon Gofurov in the 30th minute and Marcus Forss in first-half stoppage time, while Al-Nassr’s only yellow card went to Iñigo Martínez in first-half stoppage time. Neftchi also lost Ikromzhon Alibaev to a red card in the 65th minute.