Al-Ittihad scored a hat-trick in the first half through penalty kicks by Haroon Kamara (11) and Brazil’s Romarinho da Silva (15 and 42).

Al-Ittihad topped their group with three points, with Iraq’s Al-Quwa Al-Zawiyah and Iran’s Sepahan drawing 2-2 in second place.

Al-Ittihad, who lost Frenchman Karim Benzema due to injury before the start of the game, opened the scoring, especially in the eleventh minute, when Muhannad Al-Shangidi hit a powerful ball that was saved by goalkeeper Butraly Irgashev. For Kamara, he fired it powerfully into the goal.

Romarinho extended Al-Ittihad’s lead four minutes later when he took advantage of a rebound from a defender following Kamara’s shot to force home the lead.

Al-Ittihad kept up their pressure and almost scored a third goal when Moroccan international striker Abdel-Razzaq Hamdallah capitalized on a ball behind Romerino’s defense as he broke into the area from the middle of the field and passed it to Al-Ittihad. Shinkidi, running unmarked, crept up and shot it, but goalkeeper Irgachev (21) blocked it.

Irgachev continued his brilliance and blocked Hamdallah’s strong shot from outside the area before the defense scattered it (27).

Hamdalla successfully grabbed Romarino’s penalty kick to the right of Irkacheve, scoring his second and third individual goal for his team (42).

Al-Ittihad’s performance fell relatively short in the second half and the visitors almost closed the gap with a shot from Spanish striker Ruben Sanchez (58) as Al-Ittihad responded with Al-Omari replacing Hamdallah. Irgachev made a brilliant catch (71), before the same player shot a powerful ball that bounced off the crossbar in play.

“Winning is important at the start of the campaign,” Al-Ittihad’s Portugal coach Nuno Espirito Santo told a press conference.

He added, “Benzema’s injury surprised me, but it’s minor and nothing to worry about. The player felt the pain a few hours before the game.”

In the same group, Al-Quwa Al-Zawiyah drew 2-2 with their guests Sepahan in front of ten thousand spectators at the Francois Hariri Stadium in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region.

Ali Jassim (26 and 88) scored the goals for Al-Quwa Al-Zawiyah, while Muhammad Danishkir (31) and Muhammad Gurbani (65) scored for Sebahan.

Al-Quwa Al-Zawiyah took the lead in the 26th minute through Jassim with a powerful shot that caught Sepahan goalkeeper Nias Mandi by surprise.

Iran equalized five minutes late through Taneshkir (31).

Air force goalkeeper Muhammad Hamid saved his goal from a goal by saving a dangerous ball from Ghorbani (45).

At the start of the second half, Gurbani outwitted the Air Force defenders and shot the ball past goalkeeper Hamid (65) to give Sebahan the lead.

Air Force coach Ayub Odisho was forced to replace Ahmed Soruri with striker Muhannad Abdel Rahim and he succeeded in his attempt with a powerful shot from Jassim (88) two minutes before the end of the game. .

In the second round, on October 2, Al-Quwa Al-Zawiya will play host AGMK, while Al-Ittihad will face host Sepahan.