Lekhwiya Rout Al Nassr 3-1 to Top Group

Riyadh, May 06 (QNA) - Qatar's Lekhwiya routed Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr, 3-1, in the AFC Champions League Wednesday and sealed the top spot in Group A at the King Fahd International Stadium. South Korean international Nam Tae-hee sparkled for the winners, scoring one, setting up another and winning the penalty for the third. Al Nassr played the last 40 minutes with 10 men after the referee sent out Omar Hawsawi in the 50th minute. Youssef Msakni put Lekhwiya in front before Nam doubled his side's lead only for Hassan Al Raheb to pull one back just before half time. Sebastian Soria's penalty in the 58th minute put the result beyond any doubt as the Qataris finished with a comfortable cushion at the top of Group A. Michael Laudrup's side will now face compatriots Al Sadd in the Round of 16 and the Qatar Stars League champions will be a confident frame of mind after an impressive performance against the Riyadh-based club. Lekhwiya went into the halftime break leading after a hectic 45 minutes in which Al Nassr started brightest before two goals in four minutes saw the Qataris race into the lead. Omar Hawsawi and Adrian Mierzejewski both forced Lekhwiya goalkeeper Amine Lacomte into action in the first 15 minutes while Al Raheb sent his effort across the face of goal just two minutes later as the home side dominated. In the 28th minute and against the run of play, Lekhwiya took the lead when Msakni rose above the Al Nassr defence to head Nams corner goalward and Al Nassr keeper Abdullah Al Enezi was unable to keep the effort from crossing the line. Four minutes later, the Qatari club doubled their advantage, with Nam netting a fine finish after playing a one-two with Msakni whose ball over the top left the Al Nassr defence flatfooted allowing the Korean to clip his effort home. Lekhwiya's quick-fire double salvo forced a reaction from an Al Nassr side needing to win to progress to the knockout phase of the competition and, by the 36th minute, the Saudis had halved the deficit. Fabian Estoyanoff played the ball over the Lekhwiya defence to Adrian and his cutback into the centre was somehow turned over the line by Al Raheb despite the attention of two defenders. The goal gave Al Nassr a lifeline, but that was severed five minutes after the restart when Hawsawi was shown a direct red card for upending Soria on the edge of the penalty area after the Saudi defender had needlessly given the ball away deep in his own half. Eight minutes later the result was sealed when the lively Nam was felled by Bahraini defender Mohamed Husain and referee Kim Jong-hyeok had no hesitation in pointing to the penalty spot, from where Soria emphatically hammered the final nail into Al Nassr's knockout phase hopes. (END)