Saudi Arabia's Al-Shabab book place in Asian Champions League quarter-finals

DOHA: One down, two to go, or rather one through to the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League for Saudi Arabia with the potential for more to come.

Al-Shabab defeated FC Nasaf 2-0 in their second round clash in Qatar on Sunday and it remains to be seen if they are joined in the last eight by fellow Saudi Arabian teams Al-Hilal and Al-Faisaly who are in action on Monday.

If those two can follow Sunday's victors in the last eight, they will be delighted and even more so if they progress as smoothly as Al-Shabab did against the team from Uzbekistan.

While this meeting in the West Asia zone of the continental tournament – which is divided into two geographic halves until the final – was a competitive one, once Al-Shabab took an early lead, they always looked likely to emerge victorious. Vicente Moreno's men have looked like a serious contender from the beginning, winning their group in style by scoring 18 goals and conceding one and look to have improved since the group stage finished last year.

The opening goal came after just 12 minutes. Ever Banega slotted the ball to Hussain Al-Qahtani who galloped forward and it seemed that all expected that the midfielder would lay the ball off. Yet with the space given, by the retreating defenders, he kept going and decided to have a shot and while Abduvakhid Nematov looked to have it covered, a slight deflection wrongfooted the goalkeeper and the men in white were in front.

With Al-Shabab coming into the tournament on the back of four consecutive wins in the Roshn Saudi League where they sit joint top alongside Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr, it left Nasaf, who had never appeared in the knockout stage of the Champions League before, with a mountain to climb. Yet the early