Al-Nassr will be looking to qualify for the AFC Champions League quarterfinals against Al Fayha. Al-Alami has a 1-0 lead going into this pivotal match on Wednesday thanks to a goal in the last ten minutes of play. Al Fayha is trying to make it to the tournament’s quarterfinals for the first time.
Preview (Al-Nassr vs. Al Fayha)
After 81 minutes, they managed to overcome the resolute Al Fayha defensive line. The Riyadh club triumphed for the first time in the competition since their victory over Al-Duhail. They would advance to the Champions League final eight for the fourth time in their previous four trips. Al-Nassr has never lost a match during this part of the competition. They have not lost a match since they were ousted at this stage of the 2010–11 Champions League.
They have only played in two second-leg matches in this competition. Al-Nassr defeated Al-Sadd SC 3-1 in September 2019 in their most recent match. It followed a 2-1 victory in the opening game of the quarterfinal round. Luis Castro’s team has won three of their four Champions League home games this season. The other outcome was a 0-0 draw against Persepolis. The team has only lost once at home in all competitions. It came against Al-Taawoun in the Saudi Pro League last August. Al-Nassr has not lost a game by more than two goals in this event since that 2019 quarterfinal loss to Al-Sadd. However, two of their three Saudi Pro League losses this year have been by two goals or more.
Al Fayha held off Al-Nassr for more than 80 minutes in the first leg, but when their two-match Champions League winning streak came to an end, bearing down under such pressure became too much. They defeated Al-Hazm 3-1 as guests in the Saudi Premier League this past weekend. They won 3-1 at Nizhny Novgorod in a friendly earlier this month. The Al Majma’ah team has scored goals in three of their previous four competition games. They have won two goals or more in each of their three group-stage victories, which would happen on Wednesday.
Team News
This past weekend, Otavio suffered an injury that was not immediately apparent for Al-Nassr during their 2-1 victory over Al Fateh. Sami Al-Najei came on as a substitute late in the second half. Given that David Ospina is sidelined due to a torn thigh muscle and that Ragued Al-Najjar had an injury early in their weekend match, Waleed Abdullah may start in goal for this upcoming match. Cristiano Ronaldo scored their lone goal in the first leg, and he and Otavio also scored in their league victory on Saturday.With a cruciate ligament injury sustained in early October, Mohammed Majrashi is uncertain for Al Fayha going into this upcoming match.
From matchday six to their first leg match last week, six Al Fayha players—Hussein Al-Shuwaish, Mohammed Al-Baqawi, Abdulrahman Al-Safri, Nawf Al-Harthi, Sultan Mandash, and Fashion Sakala—maintained their spots in the starting 11. They were able to snap a five-match losing streak in the Saudi Pro League thanks to two goals from fellow Nigerian Anthony Nwakaeme and a brace from Henry Onyekuru over the weekend.
Al-Nassr 2-0 Al Fayha
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