Footballers from Arkadag of Turkmenistan have completed their debut season in the AFC-2 Champions League, the second-ranking club tournament of Asia, − following the two-match tie in the 1/8 finals with the Saudi club Al-Nassr.
As previously reported, in the first match, which took place on the 11th of February at the Olympic stadium in the Turkmen capital, Arkadag lost with a minimal score of 0:1 to the second team of Al-Nassr, who did not bring their star players to Ashgabat, including five-time Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.
In the return match, which took place at king Saud University stadium in front of 3631 spectators, the head coach of the home team, Jorge Jesus, did not field key players.
From the first minutes, only Brazilian Gabriel Angelo and former Barcelona defender Iñigo Martinez appeared in the starting lineup.In the second half, three star foreign players came on as substitutes: Portuguese João Felix and Croatian Marcelo Brozovic entered the game in the 68th minute, and Frenchman Kingsley Coman entered the game in the 78th.
The 41-year-old Portuguese leader of the team, Cristiano Ronaldo, was once again left out of the squad and watched the game as a spectator from the VIP box of the stadium.
There were also changes in starting protocol of Arkadag compared to the first match.Forward Didar Durdyyev and midfielder Resul Hojayev were sent to the bench, and their places in the starting lineup were taken by young striker Dayanch Meredov, who joined the club this winter, and experienced central defender Abdy Bashimov.
In the second half, Meylis Diniyev, who came on as a substitute in the 74th minute and moved to the club this winter from Kyrgyzaltyn, also made his debut for Arkadag.
With the starting whistle from Iranian referee Payam Heidari, Al-Nassr took control of the game and opened the scoring in the 2nd minute.After a multi-move combination, Nawaf Bu Washl burst into the penalty area and passed from the goal line to Saudi Arabian forward Abdulrahman Ghareeb, who rolled the ball into an empty net from close range.
The game then proceeded at a slow pace and was played practically on the half of the field of Arkadag, with the entire team defending.In the 42nd minute, the champion of Turkmenistan missed a rare chance when Al-Nassr goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi blocked a long-range shot from Arzuvguly Sapargulyyev.
After the break, the pattern of play did not change: Al-Nassr continued to dominate, and in the 56th minute, the goalpost saved the visitors from a second goal.
Arkadag, in turn, tried to counterattack occasionally, but shots from Ibrahim Mammedov, Didar Durdyyev and Shamammet Hydyrov did not pose much of a threat to the opposing goalkeeper.The Turkmen club finished the game with a man down after Guychmyrat Annagulyyev was sent off in the 91st minute for a foul on A.
Ghareeb.The last minutes of injury time were spent on the attack by the Saudi team.However, she was unable to take advantage of her numerical advantage and change the score.
Having won their second match with the same score of 1:0, Al-Nassr advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament, where they will play against the Emirati Al-Wasl, who beat the Iraqi team Al-Zawraa on aggregate (2:3 away and 4:2 at home), snatching victory in the return match in the 109th minute of extra time.
The first quarterfinal match will take place on the 4th of March in Dubai, and the return match will take place on the 11th of March in Riyadh.As for the Arkadag footballers, having gained good experience participating in the AFC-2 Champions League, they will prepare for the new season of Asian Cups, which starts in the fall.
Let us remind that last year, FC Arkadag, under the leadership of head coach Vladimir Bayramov, became champion of Turkmenistan for the third time in a row and won the national Cup.
In May 2025, the team won the 2024/25 AFC Challenge League Cup, defeating Preah Khan Rich Svay Rieng of Cambodia 2-1 in the final.In September of the same year, Arkadag footballers won the Turkmenistan Super Cup, after which they advanced to the 1/8 finals of the AFC-2 Champions League for the first time in their history.