April 28 – With Yasuto Wakizaka’s extra time goal, Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale knocked out Qatar’s Al Sadd SC 3-2 in their AFC Champions League Elite Finals in Jeddah and became the only non-Saudi Arabian Pro League club in the semi-finals.
Frontale will meet Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr on Wednesday, after the Saudi club beat Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos 4-1.
Frontale have lost in the quarter finals in three of their five Champions League appearances, and they left it late to go through this time.
Frontale took the lead after only four minutes when Erison swept home a Akihiro Ienaga cross.
Al Sadd levelled within five minutes when the talismanic Akram Afif put Paulo Otavio through .
Marcinho scored next for Frontale giving them the lead at the break.
Al Sadd injected more urgency into their game in the second half and their pressure was rewarded in the 71st minute when Giovani’s cross was smashed home by Claudinho, taking the tie into extra time.Wakizaka’s winning goal came in the 98th minute.
Frontale’s semi-final opponents Al Nassr made quick work of Yokohama, effectively setting the tie in the first half.
Jhon Duran and Sadio Mane had give Al Nassr an early lead before Ronaldo scored his eight goal of the Champions League on the 38th minute.
Duran scores again in the 48th minute and even though Marinos pulled a goal back through Kota Watanabe five minutes later, it was too little too late.
In the other all-Saudi semi-final Al Hilal, chasing a record fifth Asian Champions league title, will meet Al Nassr.
Al Hilal cruised past Gwangju FC with a 7-0 win at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Goals from Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Marcos Leonardo and Salem Al Dawsari gave the four-time champions a 3-0 lead at half time before Aleksandar Mitrovic, Malcom, Nasser Al Dawsari and Abdullah Al Hamddan cashed in with four more goals in the second half.
Al Ahli eased past Thai challengers Buriram with three first half goals. Riyad Mahrez scored first before Galeno and Roberto Firmino put the tie out of Buriram’s reach.
The semi-finals will be played Tuesday and Wednesday this week.
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