Deservedly... Al-Ittihad and Bakhtiyor to “Asian Champions”

Al-Ittihad qualified for the unified group stage of the AFC Champions League Elite in football, after defeating their hosts, Al-Jazira of the United Arab Emirates, 4-1 in the West Asia playoff in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. Steven Bergwijn (12th, 38th minute) and Algerians Houssem Aouar (54th) and Marwan Al-Sahafi (69th) scored for Al-Ittihad, while Congolese Simon Banza (80th) netted Al-Jazira’s only goal. Al-Ittihad, winners of the 2004 and 2005 editions, secured their 14th appearance in the continental tournament in their history, while Al-Jazira failed to reach their tenth, extending their absence from the competition to a fifth consecutive edition. The young German Jens Weissenberger, 39, who won the AFC Champions League 2 title last season with Japanese club Gamba Osaka, passed his official debut as Al-Ittihad’s head coach, succeeding Portuguese manager Sergio Conceicao. On the other side, Romanian coach Cosmin Olăroiu failed to secure a result in his official first match in charge of Al-Jazira, succeeding Dutch manager Marino Pušić, who was recently appointed to lead Saudi club Al-Ahli, leaving the Emirati side out of the premier continental competition since their last participation in 2022. Meanwhile, Uzbek club Paxtakor also advanced to the unified group stage of the AFC Champions League Elite, defeating their guests, Jordan’s Al-Hussein Irbid, 3-0 in Tashkent on Tuesday.