Al Sadd's Baghdad Bounedjah shoots at the goal during the match against Al Rayyan yesterday.
Doha: Spaniard Santiago Cazorla scored the winner as champions Al Sadd edged Al Rayyan 2-1 in a thrilling ‘Qatar Clasico’ to maintain their unbeaten streak in the QNB Stars League (QSL).
Al Rayyan despite the defeat at Al Sadd Stadium last night will keep third spot with 34 points, going into the final round after Al Ahli (33 points) and Qatar SC (32 points) played out a 1-1 draw, earlier at the same venue.
Also yesterday at the Al Ahli Stadium, Al Khor snatched a point against runners-up Al Duhail with a 1-1 draw, and are now just two points behind 10th placed Umm Salal with 16 points.
Although, the title winners have already been decided, all eyes were on the ‘Qatar Clasico’, which lived up to expectations producing fireworks from both Qatar’s football giants.
Al Rayyan, coached by Frenchman Laurent Blanc, knew that they had to come up with a special performance to beat Xavi Hernandez-coached Al Sadd, who now have 18 wins and three draws against their name. ‘The Lions’ put up an impressive performance, particularly in the first half but missed chances, which proved costly for them.
“We played a very good match against a great team, and we deserved to win,” Xavi said after Al Sadd’s win last night.
“The players were impressive both in attack and defense and I am very happy with the victory. The team’s commitment to win matches despite securing the league title is amazing. We will play the final round match against Qatar SC with the same approach,” he added.
Al Sadd, playing at their home turf, took the lead in the fourth with Baghdad Bounedjah scoring an opener with a hit in the fourth minute, receiving a superb pass from Hashim Ali. It was the Algerian’s 21st goal of the season.
The match, which already got off to a fast start, gained further pace with both teams exchanging attacks. Yohan Boli was influential in most of Al Rayyan’s attacks while ‘The Wolves’ were relying on Bounedjah, Cazorla and captain Hassan Al Haydos, who saw two of his goals disallowed in the first half.
Boli levelled the score with a header in a 28th minute corner as both teams returned to the dug-out after an evenly-poised first half, though Al Sadd had an edge in the ball possession.
Al Rayyan made more attacks in the second half but a good defense by Al Sadd, particularly marking on captain Yacine Brahimi, kept them away from leveling the match after Cazorla’s match-winning spot-kick in 66th minute. Al Sadd won the penalty kick after Franck Kom committed a foul inside the box, with Spaniard scoring a clean strike beating a diving Fahad Younis to his left.
Earlier at the same venue, 10-man Qatar SC played out a 1-1 draw against Al Ahli in a crucial Round 21 clash.
Bashar Resan Bonyan fired equaliser for Qatar SC in the 74th minute after Abdulrasheed Ibrahiim grabbed lead for Al Ahli in the 40th minute. Following the hotly-contested match, Al Ahli stayed fourth with 33 points, maintaining a one-point lead over fifth-placed Qatar SC.
Qatar SC played the last 30 minutes without Cristian Prieto, who was sent off for kicking Hernan Perez on his chest as the pair fought for the ball.
Elsewhere, Giannis Fetfatzidis’ spot-kick in the 65th minute gave Al Khor a 1-1 draw, cancelling Dudu’s 49th minute goal.
In today’s remaining Round 21 matches, Umm Salal will take on Al Sailiya while Al Arabi will meet Al Kharaitiyat at Al Ahli Stadium.
