Al Sadd's Baghdad Bounedjah (fourth left) scoring their third goal against Al Duhail in yesterday's Amir Cup semi-final played at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday. Pictures: Anvar Sadath
A brilliant second-half performance yesterday saw 16-time-champions Al Sadd crush title holders Al Duhail 4-1 to make it to their 26th Amir Cup final.
Playing under lights at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, football giants Al Duhail took an early lead through Edmilson Junior (10) but goals from Boualem Khoukhi (59), Guilherme (64), Baghdad Bounedjah (77) and Rodrigo Tabata (88) sealed the deal for Al Sadd.
Asian Player-of-the-Year Akram Afif set up two of those as Al Sadd completed a commanding win.
The victory was the exact opposite of the previous meeting between the two teams in the Amir Cup when Al Sadd, under the then skipper Xavi Hernandez, lost to Al Duhail 1-4 in the last year’s final.
“It is a very satisfying win for us. Despite conceding a goal, we did not give up. We kept fighting,” Al Sadd skipper Hassan Al Haydos said.
In yesterday’s encounter, Al Duhail was in control in the first half. Al Sadd enjoyed most of the ball possession but it was the Sabri Lamouchi-coached team that produced most number of scoring chances.
Al Duhail’s first attempt came as early as the sixth minute when Medhi Benatia attempted a bicycle kick from few feet away from the goal. Benatia couldn’t find the right angle after receiving a pass from Sultan Al Brake as the ball flew past the left post. Four minutes later, Belgian Edmilson gave the 1-0 lead for the hosts.
Qatari defender Pedro Miguel passed the ball to Al Sadd’s goalkeeper who tried to return it to Jung Wooyoung. However, Mohammed Muntari collided with South Korean who lost his balance as the ball deflected towards Edmilson. Edmilson shot the ball past Meshaal Barsham who was filling in for Qatar national goalkeeper Saad Al Dosari who missed yesterday’s match due to an injury.
Edmilson almost doubled the lead in the 24th minute when he curled a shot from outside the penalty area after receiving a short pass from Eduardo Pereira Rodrigues. But the ball flew past the bar at a bullet’s pace.
Edmilson repeated the same nine minutes later, but met with the same result.
In the 41th minute, Afif had a golden opportunity to score, but the Qatari striker failed to connect after receiving a long and well-directed pass from Al Haydos. Afif went down after a contact with Benatia, but the referee ruled out any wrongdoings by the Moroccan.
Al Sadd kept trying hard for an equaliser but Lamouchi’s men maintained the lead at halfway mark.
In the 54th minute, Ramin Semeskandi thought he had scored Al Sadd’s second goal when he shot the ball into the net from close range, only to see the goal disallowed. The referee referred VAR to find the ball touched Edmilson’s hand before the Belgian directed the ball towards the Iranian international.
And just when everyone thought Al Duhail had the upper hand, Al Sadd struck back to disappoint the defending champions.
Just five minutes after the VAR drama, Afif set up a brilliant opportunity as Khoukhi leapt to head the ball into the net from close range to make it 1-1.
The deadlock didn’t last long.
In the 64th minute, Al Brake made a mistake when he accidently kicked the ball back onto the playing field to avoid a corner, only to see the ball going straight to Afif who passed it incoming Guilherme. Guilherme’s powerful shot was too difficult for Al Duhail’s custodian Khalifa Ababacar Ndiaye to stop as Xavi’s men took the lead for the first time in the match.
Afif was once again involved in setting up a goal, this time the receiver was Bounedjah who had placed himself inside the penalty area. The Algerian shot the ball into the net to give Al Sadd the 3-1 lead in the 77th minute.
With the clock ticking and almost all options gone, Al Duhail goalkeeper also was seen leaving his box to add extra strength to the hosts’ side. But that decision backfired when he came out to intercept the incoming ball and kicked it back.
Guilherme passed the ball to Tabata, who was almost at halfway line and to everyone’s surprise the former Qatar national skipper shot the ball towards the unguarded net to make it 4-1 in favour of Al Sadd who marched into their 26th final.
Al Duhail were handed two red cards in the injury time for foul play, but that did not affect the game as it the referee’s final whistle was blown a moment later. Al Sadd will now meet Al Arabi in search of their 14th Amir Cup title glory.
