According to Mehr News Agency, the third week of the AFC Champions League Elite football matches continued on Monday evening with a fixture between UAE's Al Ain and Iran's Tractor in the Emirates, in which the host team managed to defeat its visiting Tabrizi opponent 2-1.

The Tabrizi Reds entered the match missing several players for various reasons, the most notable being Alireza Beiranvand, who has left for military service.

The only goal of the first half came in the 21st minute from a powerful shot by Ramy Rabia. Subsequent efforts by Tractor to equalize bore no fruit, and Javad Nekounam's men headed to the locker room trailing.

In the second half, the Tabrizi Reds managed to get back into the game, scoring the equalizer against Al Ain in the 55th minute through Alen Halilović. In this sequence, Danial Esmaeilifar first took a shot from behind the penalty area, which rebounded off the vertical goalpost and reached Tibor Halilović, who sent the ball into the top corner of the host's goal with a spectacular curling shot from the inside of his foot, leveling the match with a super-goal.

While Tractor was striving to score the second goal, the situation reversed in the 70th minute, and it was Al Ain that scored the winning goal from a right-wing cross by Hossein Rahimi. In this play, Tractor's defenders hesitated, leaving space for the opposing player, who cut inside and scored the winning goal with a calm shot.

In the closing minutes, Nekounam's players made great efforts to score the equalizer, but Al Ain's flawless defense did not allow them to do so, leaving the Tabrizi Reds to leave the pitch without any points.

With this defeat, Tractor sits in twelfth place in the AFC Champions League Elite standings for the West Asia region with one point.

Source: Mehr News Agency