Al Shamal's Ricardo Gomes (left) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against Umm Salal yesterday. PIC: QSL
Doha, Qatar: Forward Ricardo Gomes yesterday fired a superb hat-trick to give Al Shamal a pulsating 4-3 victory over Umm Salal, as defending champions Al Duhail were held to a goalless draw by bottom side Al Markhiya at the Expo Stars League (ESL).
A late Julian Draxler strike helped Al Ahli earned a point against Muaither after an early own goal hiccup in other game on the opening day of Round 16 in Qatar’s top flight.
Mahdi Salem gave Al Shamal a fiery start with a goal in fifth minute as Gomes scored his opening goal seven minutes later to double the advantage early at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium.
Umm Salal launched a fightback in the second half with Marouane Louadni reducing their lead seven minutes after the break. But strikes from Gomes in 53rd and 79th minute took the game out of Orange Fortress’ reach, despite Kenji Gorre’s strike in 68th minute and Louadni’s second goal eight minutes before time.
“It’s an important victory and players fought hard for it. The strong start provided us a platform for this win, which came against a strong side. Now we will focus on our next match against Al Markhiya as our target is to improve our standings,” said Al Shamal coach Poya Asbhagi.
Al Shamal rose to ninth in the points table with 15 points pushing Umm Salal out of top five to sixth position.
Earlier, Al Duhail suffered further blow to their title defence after being held by rejuvenated Al Markhiya, who showed another impressive performance following their win over Al Wakrah last week.
Both the teams created good scoring opportunities at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium. Al Duhail’s Khaled Mohammed had almost broke the deadlock early in the second half but his hit from outside the box took a touch of Al Markhiya goalkeeper Oumar Barry’s fingertips before hitting the top corner of the right post.
Isaac Lihadji also came close to scoring after Philippe Coutinho’s assist in 81st minute but his attempt just missed the target.
Al Duhail goalkeeper Shehab Ellethy then made a brilliant save off substitute Muayed Hassan’s shot five minutes before time, before he cut off Yusupha Nije’s attempt with three minutes left.
At the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Al Ahli found them in a difficult situation when Eissa El Nagar inadvertently put the ball into his own net in ninth minute, but Draxler salvaged a point for Brigadiers with an equaliser in the 87th minute.
The result saw Al Ahli continue to be on eighth spot with 16 points while Muaither moved up to 11 points but still being in the relegation zone in 11th place.
Today, leaders Al Sadd will take on second-placed Al Gharafa while Al Rayyan will meet Al Wakrah. The other match will pit Al Arabi and Qatar SC.
