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Neftchi Fergana suffered a 3-1 defeat to Al-Nassr in Riyadh on 12 October in the second round of the 2026/27 AFC Champions League Elite, with a straight red card midway through the second half effectively ending any hope of a comeback for the Uzbek side.

Al-Nassr opened the scoring in the 34th minute through a well-worked move. Nawaf Boushal drove down the right flank and cut the ball back for Angelo, who finished accurately inside the area. Eight minutes later the hosts doubled their lead: Sadio Mane delivered a cross, Aiman Yahya laid it off with his chest, and Cristiano Ronaldo turned to score.

Neftchi appeared to have pulled one back before the interval, but the goal was disallowed following a VAR review that found Abrorbek Ismoilov had been in an offside position earlier in the move.

The Fergana club made two changes at half-time, introducing Alisher Odilov and Farrukh Sayfiev in place of Medeiros Sasse and Ibrokhimkhalil Yuldoshev. The substitutions had an immediate effect. In the 51st minute Jamshid Iskanderov sent in a cross, Boushal failed to clear with his head, and Odilov collected the rebound to fire past Al-Nassr goalkeeper Bento Krepski and make it 2-1.

Any momentum Neftchi had built was extinguished in the 65th minute when Ikromjon Alibaev was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Al-Nassr defender Mohamed Simakan, leaving the visitors to defend with ten men for the final quarter of the match.

Al-Nassr capitalised on their numerical advantage thirteen minutes later. Mane found Samu Costa inside the penalty area and the Portuguese midfielder played the ball across goal. Anvarjon Gofurov, attempting to cut out the pass before Ronaldo could reach it, diverted it into his own net to restore the two-goal margin.

The result gave Al-Nassr their first points of the current AFC Champions League Elite campaign. For Neftchi, it was a second consecutive defeat in the group stage.

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Malika focuses on public datasets, government financial disclosures and evidence-based reporting. Her work uses public information to explain spending patterns, institutional performance and broader governance trends.