Manama: Robert Jaspert expressed his pride at taking Lebanese club Al Ahed into the semi-finals of the AFC Cup on Wednesday evening as the side from Beirut notched up a 2-0 win over former champions Muharraq on Wednesday evening that moved them into the semi-finals of the 2016 competition.
Kabiru Musa gave Al Ahed the lead on the night, and doubled their advantage overall, in the 22nd minute before Ahmad Zreik netted three minutes into injury time to take Al Ahed into the last four of the continental club competition for the first time in their history with a 3-0 aggregate win over the Bahrainis.
No Lebanese side has reached the final of the AFC Cup since Safa lost in the 2008 final to Muharraq and no club from the west Asian nation has ever won the competition. Al Ahed will now meet Air Force from Iraq for a place in the decider in November.
“We made some changes to the squad that played in the first leg and we proved that we are capable of putting on a good performance because we managed to repeat our win against an experienced side who previously won the title,” said the German coach.
“I’m happy that we made a small football nation like Lebanon proud and we made them happy by qualifying to the semi-finals. Al Ahed proved that they are a good team and they are a strong competitors in this competition.”
Jaspert made two changes to the team that won the first leg 1-0 in Beirut last week, bringing in Haytham Faour and Musa for Hassan Chaito and Mohamad Kdouh, and the impact of Musa was felt just before the midway point of the first half when he headed in a cross from Mohamad Haidar.
Muharraq rarely threatened the well-organised Lebanese side and, with the game in injury time, Mohamed Mattar was sent off for a second bookable offence for the Bahrainis before Zreik netted from close range to put the result beyond any doubt.
“Everyone was ready and there were no psychological problems for us before the match,” said assistant coach Damir Markanovic. “We tried to score early on but we failed to do so due to some individual mistakes from some players.
“We were not surprised by the performance of Al Ahed because we know them well, but some of the mistakes from our players gave them the chance to score. We tried to level the scores but Al Ahed knew how to run the match as they wanted to qualify to the semi-finals.”
Photo: Lagardère Sports
Source: the-afc.com