TEHRAN - Al Hilal came from behind to beat ten-man Sepahan 3-1 in the first leg of the AFC Champions League 2023/24 round of 16 meeting on Thursday evening at the Naghsh-e-Jahan Stadium.

The second leg between Sepahan and Al Hilal will take place on 22nd Feb. in Riyadh.

Sepahan winger Ramin Rezaeian scored in the 37th minute. A long ball over the top found Rezaeian, whose volley was struck sweetly and Yassine Bounou could do nothing about it as it flew into the far corner. This was the right-back’s fifth goal of the tournament, drawing level with Mitrovic.

Al Hilal drew level 12 minutes into the second half. Mitrovic’s first shot of the game was well saved by Payam Niazmand, but he pushed it into Malcom’s path and the Brazilian was able to squeeze the ball home from close range.

Heading into the final 15 minutes, VAR intervened and the referee brandished Mohammad Daneshgar brandished with a red card for a late tackle which caught Abdullah Al Hamdan high on his shin.

Right at the death, Abdulhamid’s clever cross into the area found Mitrovic, whose towering header in the 94th minute got the better of Niazmand and found the bottom corner to claim the win.

With Sepahan shell shocked, Al Hilal made it 3-1 when Al Dawsari played Abdullah Al Hamdan through the middle who poked home to take a two goal advantage into the reverse leg.