Al Sadd players and officials celebrate with the Qatar Cup Trophy.
Hosts Al Sadd, captained by Barca legend Xavi, yesterday scored once in each half for a 2-1 win over El Jaish in the final of the Qatar Cup.
It was Xavi's first trophy in Qatar following his move from Barcelona at the end of the 2015 season.
Playing on home soil, Al Sadd opened the scoring through Baghdad Bounedjah in the 21st minute.
Defending champions El Jaish, coached by Sabri Lamouchi, found the equaliser when Uzbek forward Sardor Rashidov found the net in the 39th minute.
It was Rashidov's 17th goal this season for El Jaish.
However, Al Sadd put the record straight, getting the game-winner from Jugurtha Hamroun in the 73rd minute. Hamroun fired a bullet from the edge of the Al Sadd box for the match-winner.
"We had to do something for our fans. They have been supporting us throughout the season," Hamroun said.
"It always feels good to do well in front of the home fans," he said.
"We worked extremely hard to reach this point. We are happy with our performance," the Algerian added.
A near-packed Al Sadd Stadium celebrated with coach Jesualdo Ferreira who was thrown in the air by jubilant Al Sadd players at the end of regulation time.
Sheikh Joan bin Hamad Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC), gave away the trophies and the medals at the end of the final.
QFA President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmad Al Thani and QSL chief Hani Ballan were also present.
The competition's previous three editions were dominated by El Jaish and Lekhwiya who faced one another in all of the previous three finals.
The two sides met in the semi-final this time around, where El Jaish won 3-2 to reach the final. Al Sadd met with Al Rayyan at the same stage and won by the exact same scoreline.
Al Sadd and El Jaish met in the semi-final of the previous three editions, where El Jaish dominated each time. The first time was in 2014 and El Jaish managed to win courtesy of a single goal.
In 2015, the margin grew to two goals when El Jaish won 301. Last year, El Jaish won 3-2 and went on to win the title.
