Soccer-Al-Hilal punish Lekhwiya errors in big ACL win

Aug 25 (Reuters) - Brazilian Carlos Eduardo struck twice as Saudi Arabi's Al-Hilal made light of a supporter ban to beat Qatari champions Lekhwiya 4-1 at home in the first leg of their AFC Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday. Ailton opened the scoring for last year's runners-up after a goalkeeping howler, and although Tunisian Youssef Msakni drew Lekhwiya level, Khalid Al Kabi restored the lead before the Brazilian struck twice to bag the healthy advantage. Hilal manager Georgios Donis was full of praise for his side's efforts at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh and was confident of finishing the job when the second leg takes place in Qatar on Sept.15 "I want to congratulate the players as we played in difficult conditions whether it was the weather or playing without the support of our fans," the Greek coach told reporters. "The players showed an excellent performance and we got a big win." Striker Ailton opened the scoring for twice champions Hilal after he profited from a woeful error by Lekwiya goalkeeper Amine Lecomte, who dallied over a clearing kick which rebounded off the onrushing Brazilian and looped into the net in the 11th minute. The Qataris were back level, though, only six minutes later when Msakni scooped over the goalkeeper after a neat through ball by South Korean Nam Tae-hee. Skipper Luiz Junior then wasted a great chance to put Lekhwiya in front just after the half hour mark and Kaabi made them pay for the profligacy as he squeezed home an effort in the 37th minute off the far post to restore the host's lead. "We had a close chance to score when the result was 1-1 but we failed to take advantage," Lekhwiya coach Djamel Belmadi said of the incident. "From the resulting counter attack, Al-Hilal took the lead and this was the turning point in the match as things could have been different had we scored that chance." Eduardo then struck to twice for the Saudis, who were serving out a one match supporter ban after fans threw objects at Persepolis players in their last 16 clash, the second such incident in a year at the Riyadh club. The Brazilian turned in a cross from Yasir Al Shahrani in the 36th minute before adding some gloss five minutes from time by heading home substitute Faisel Darwish's delivery from the same flank. "I hope that we can have a better performance in the second leg and fight for the chance that we have to remain in the competition," Belmadi said. The second West Asian last eight encounter between Naft Tehran and Emiratis Al-Ahli kicks-off later on Wednesday with the first leg in Iran. (Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Greg Stutchbury)