October 24 – Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal stormed past India’s Mumbai City 6-0 with striker Aleksander Mitrovic scoring a hattrick to remain on course for the knockout stages of the Asian Champions League.
The Serbian striker was dominant as he ended any kind of Indian resistance and propelled his club to a convincing win. His attacking prowess and goals made up for the absence of Neymar, who will be out for months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament during Brazil’s World Cup qualifier against Uruguay last week.
“We lost 6-0, it’s not why we came here,” said Mumbai’s Dutch midfielder Yoell van Nieff.
“When we had the ball we could have done more. We couldn’t keep the ball and that’s the most important thing. Al-Hilal have a lot of quality so all credit to them.”
The Riyadh club are level on seven points with Navbahor of Uzbekistan at the top of Group D. Coming from behind, the Uzbek club defeated Nassaji Mazandaran of Iran.
Elsewhere in the Asian Champions League, Sharjah of the United Arab Emirates moved a point clear at the top of Group B after a win 1-0 against Nasaf of Uzbekistan. Qatar’s Al Sadd are in third after an emphatic 6-0 win over 10-man Al Faisaly. Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad secured a 1-0 win against Iraq’s Air Force Club in Group C with a late goal from Abderrazak Hamedallah and Iran’s Sepahan got a 3-1 victory over Uzbek side AGMK.
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