Al-Wasl lost 2-3 to the Iraqi Al-Zawraa in the first leg of the Round of 16 of the AFC Champions League 2 at Al-Zawraa Stadium in Baghdad. The identity of the team advancing to the quarter-finals will be decided in the return leg next Tuesday in Zabeel. Al-Wasl started the match at a fast pace and quickly gained the upper hand. Miguel Borja scored the first goal in the 5th minute after an organized attack that started with Jiménez and passed through Ali Saleh, who provided a crucial pass that put Borja in a perfect position inside the penalty area, and the Colombian striker shot the ball into the net. The turning point came in the 27th minute when the referee showed a red card to Al-Wasl's Sofiane Bouftini for a strong tackle against Al-Zawraa's Amer Jamous. Mohamed Al-Wali shone by saving a powerful shot from Hassan Abdelkarim (29), while 'The Yellows' suffered a major blow in the 41st minute when Al-Wali sustained an injury that forced him to leave the field. Khaled Al-Snani came in as his substitute, and Amer Jamous scored an equalizing goal for the home team in the seventh minute of added time of the first half. The second half also saw a strong start from Al-Wasl, as Miguel Borja added a second goal with a powerful shot that was deflected by the Al-Zawraa goalkeeper and finished by Borja in the net (65). The Iraqi team responded with an equalizing goal through Riascos, who faced goalkeeper Khaled Al-Snani one-on-one and shot the ball into the net (68), before adding a third goal himself (76) to end the match with a victory for Al-Zawraa.
