DOHA: El Jaish coach Nabil Maaloul bemoaned lack of concentration following the last-minute break that saw his side’s draw with visitors Bunyodkorcollapse to a 2-1 defeat and with it elimination from the AFC Champions League at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium.
El Jaish only needed a draw to progress to the last 16 and they seemed to have achieved their target after Mohammad Muntari struck early in the second half to cancel out Sergii Symonenko’s early goal.
Sardor Rashidov scored with virtually the last kick of the game as the Uzbek champions secured their place in the knockout stage of the AFC Champions League for the seventh year in a row.
“I’m really disappointed with this defeat as it came in the last seconds of the match and that cost us the ticket to the knockout stage of the competition,” said El Jaish coach Nabil Maaloul.
“The players were tired and they lost concentration in the last minutes of the match which led to this result.”
“We were seconds away from qualifying from the group but this is football where mistakes are part of the game. We played decisive and important matches recently and this affected us as the players were completely tired.”
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