Three things that went wrong for FC Goa in Al-Nassr loss in AFC Champions League Two

The Gaurs are currently bottom of the table with zero points to their name.

FC Goa suffered a disappointing 2-1 loss to Al-Nassr in their third game of the 2025-26 AFC Champions League group stages at the Fatorda Stadium, Goa, on Wednesday (22 October 2025).

The Gaurs did show a lot of fight in the game, despite going down to a 2-0 deficit in the first hour. Substitute Brison Fernandes scored an impressive goal against the Saudi Arabian giants and was a major threat for the Indian Super League (ISL) side. However, quite a few things also went pretty badly for Manolo Marquez’s side.

Even though they did put Al-Nassr under pressure and drag them out of their comfort zone, the Gaurs’ application was held back by certain issues in their performance. Here, we look at the three things that went wrong for FC Goa in the loss to Al-Nassr.

3. Too many individual errors for conceded goals

FC Goa didn’t really have the energetic start that they would’ve probably aspired to against Al-Nassr, who put them under pressure from the get-go. However, the Gaurs were not able to maintain the tight defensive shape that was really needed for them to put the visitors under pressure and make them really grind their way to creating chances. To make matters worse, there were quite a few unforced errors that allowed Al-Nassr the chance to take a formidable lead in the game.

For Angelo Gabriel’s goal, the Brazilian midfielder was given way too much open space outside the box. Pol Moreno was unable to dispossess him and Sahil Tavora was nowhere to be seen in the situation. FC Goa’s defending for the second goal, scored by Haroune Camara, was even worse.

Neither Borja Herrera nor Pol Moreno were able to clear the ball in time from inside the box, allowing the defender to easily score from close range. These individual errors ultimately came back to haunt the Gaurs, leading them to a bitter loss.

Also Read: Can FC Goa still qualify for AFC Champions League 2 knockouts after 2-1 defeat vs Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr?

2. Lack of genuine counter-attacking options

As Al-Nassr were expected to dominate the majority of the possession against FC Goa, the expected game plan for the Gaurs was to hit them on counter-attacks. To their credit, the Indian Super League side were able to defend pretty strongly and also create some counter-attacking opportunities for themselves.

However, the execution of the said transition moves was really poor, at least on the majority of the occasions. That is because of the lack of players who even worked hard to march forward on the transitions.

Brison Fernandes tried his best to dribble forward with the ball on counter-attacks, but he was often left with very little support. The likes of Dejan Drazic and Borja Herrera were able to do much on the counter-attacks at all, wasting a potential major source of goal-scoring opportunities for the Gaurs.

The lack of counter-attacking options held the Gaurs back from properly testing the Al-Nassr backline and putting them under genuine pressure throughout the match.

Also Read: Will Cristiano Ronaldo feature in ACL 2 home leg vs FC Goa in Saudi Arabia?

1. Foreign contingent fails to impress

In FC Goa’s loss to Al-Nassr, a rare occurrence happened in the Indian players actually outperforming the foreigners for the Gaurs. Normally, when it comes to matches against major opponents, the Gaurs have been reliant on the foreign players to come up with the goods and inspire those around them to produce a bright performance.

However, the FC Goa foreign players had a pretty poor outing in the game against Al-Nassr. David Timor ended up getting sent off after a relatively disappointing display, Pol Moreno was caught in awkward positions for both goals and Javier Siverio didn’t even last an entire half. Dejan Drazic might’ve assisted Brison Fernandes’ goal, but he really struggled in the centre-forward role and failed to drive his side forward or come close to scoring.

Borja Herrera was a threat with his set-piece delivery, but failed to provide enough defensive cover and couldn’t do much on the transitions either. The underperformance of the foreign players held the Gaurs back and resulted in them failing to perform at their best.

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