Al-Sadd<\/a> will take on table-toppers Al Hilal over two legs in early March in the \u200cnext round, while Al Ittihad<\/a>, who finished fourth \u2060in the standings, face \u200coff against Al Wahda<\/a> from the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n Defending champions Al Ahli<\/a>, \u200balso from Saudi Arabia, will play Al-Duhail<\/a> from Qatar, with Tractor meeting UAE’s Shabab Al-Ahli<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Today was \u200ba very difficult game,” said Al-Sadd goal scorer Rafa Mujica<\/a>. “The first 20, 25 minutes were very bad for us. \u2060We conceded everything.<\/p>\n “But \u200bwe only have to think about the next game. We are qualified. We will see in the next game.”<\/p>\n Mancini’s team needed to match or better the result recorded by \u200cAl-Gharafa<\/a> but went two goals behind inside the opening 18 minutes when Houssem Aouar<\/a> and Youssef En-Nesyri<\/a> struck for the visitors.<\/p>\n A Pedro Miguel<\/a> own goal in the 33rd minute compounded Al-Sadd’s problems, although Mujica gave Al-Sadd a glimmer of hope seven minutes before the interval.<\/p>\n Stephane Keller restored Al Ittihad’s three-goal cushion when he scored with a close-range finish in the 63rd minute as the \u200cSaudi side notched up their second comfortable win in a \u200brow.<\/a><\/p>\n Al-Gharafa’s hopes were erased<\/a>, however, when their Iranian \u200cvisitors scored twice in the final 30 minutes to knock Pedro Martins’ team out of the competition.<\/p>\n Mehdi Hashemnejad<\/a> netted after the Al-Gharafa defence failed to clear in the 61st minute, and Amirhossein Hosseinzadeh<\/a>‘s deflected effort \u2060into the top corner \u2060put the result beyond \u200cdoubt with nine minutes remaining.<\/p>\n![\"How](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/ea487286-741c-4aea-bd7e-36a52e7fbddb.jpg\" "\\"How")
How the western zone table finished after eight roundsFlashscore<\/p>\n