Al Sadd’s Baghdad Bounedjah (centre) is congratulated by team-mates Akram Afif (left) and skipper Xavi Hernandez during their third and final friendly match of the pre-season camp in Austria against Slovenian side NK Krka yesterday.
DOHA: Al Sadd’s goal machine Baghdad Bounedjah scored five goals as the Qatari football giants thrashed Slovenian club NK Krka 8-1 in Austria yesterday.
Ahmed Sayyar, Akram Afif and Jugurtha Hamroun rounded up Al Sadd’s impressive score in the third and final friendly of their pre-season camp in Europe.
Earlier this week, the Wolves, coached by Portuguese tactician Jesualdo Ferreira, convincingly outplayed Slovenian second tier club NK Radomlje 4-1 in their second friendly encounter in Austria.
Pedro Miguel, Hamza Al Sanhaji, Ahmed Sayyar and Xavi Hernandez were on target against the Austrians.
Out of the three friendlies, the men in black and white suffered one loss when they lost to German club MSV Duisburg 4-1 where Hamroun scored the only goal for the Qatari team.
Bounedjah’s brilliant form is good news for coach Ferreira’s side who begins the 2018-19 Qatar Stars League campaign against Al Kharaitiyat at the Khalifa International Stadium on August 5.
Al Sadd, led by Barca legend Xavi, are also vying for a spot in the AFC Champions League semi-finals when they take on Iran’s Esteghlal FC in the knockouts on August 27.
Bounedjah also shares the top goal scorers spot in this season’s AFC Champions League (9) along with Al Duhail’s Moroccan star Youssef El Arabi.
