TEHRAN - Jhon Duran struck twice and Cristiano Ronaldo once as Al Nassr Club defeated Esteghlal 3-0 in the second leg of their AFC Champions League Elite 2024/25 Round of 16 tie at the King Saud University Stadium on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr - seeking to win the title for the first time - advanced 3-0 on aggregate and will know their quarter-final opponents in Monday’s draw.      

The breakthrough came in the ninth minute when Duran capitalised on Hossein Hosseini’s careless pass, calmly lobbing the ball over Esteghlal’s keeper.

Hosseini denied Ronaldo’s 18th-minute free-kick, but the five-time Ballon d’Or winner’s persistence paid off when he intercepted Raphael Silva’s poor back pass and cut it back to Sadio Mane, who was brought down by Mohammad Zobeir Niknafs inside the penalty box with Ronaldo slotting home the spot-kick the-afc.com reported. 

Esteghlal’s hopes of progressing into the quarter-finals suffered another setback in the closing stages of the half after Mehran Ahmadi was sent off for a second yellow for a foul on Al Fatil.

Duran, a livewire all night, deservingly settled the tie in the 84th minute after collecting Angelo’s pass inside the six-yard-box to strike home into the bottom left corner.