FFORMULAORMULA 1 | Page 4 MMLBLB | Page 5 Hamilton Verlander off ers no pitches Astros comfort for past sinking Ferrari Diamondbacks FOOTBALL Tuesday, September 18, 2018 Moharram 8, 1439 AH Neymar smart to GULF TIMES protect himself from injury: Klopp SPORT Page 2 FOOTBALL/AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOTLIGHT Al Sadd through to Persepolis edge out semis aft er draw Duhail 3-2 on aggregate AFP The cross saw the ball bounce with Esteghlal off the heads of Godwin Mensha Tehran and Ali Alipour and fall perfectly for captain Seyed Jalal Hossein Al Sadd qualify 5-3 on aggregate, to clash with Persepolis for spot in final ranian giants Persepolis to volley home from close, much broke Al Duhail’s sequence to the joy of the near capacity of nine straight victories to crowd. storm into the semi-fi nals of Persepolis went ahead in the Ithe AFC Champions League with 76th minute when Alipour shook a stirring come-from-behind off the defence and shot goal- 3-2 aggregate win yesterday. ward, forcing Sultan al-Brake to Trailing 1-0 after the fi rst attempt a last-ditch clearance leg and then conceding a 33rd from the line which unfortu- minute goal they scored three nately sent the ball into the net. goals after the break to take the By this time the crowd were on second leg 3-1. their feet and Persepolis didn’t Qatar Stars League champions have to wait long for the crucial Al Duhail had been relentless in third goal. their campaign, winning all their Nigerian Mensha, one of their previous nine matches right stalwarts in their current cam- from the group stage before suf- paign, latched on to a long clear- fering their only defeat. ance from Alireza Beiranvand Had they won, they would and left two defenders chasing have set an AFC Champions shadows before dribbling past League record of 10 consecutive goalkeeper Lecomte and nudg- victories, overtaking Ulsan Hy- ing the ball in with a simple fi n- undai’s nine set during the 2012 ish. season when the Korean side Qatar’s other team in the won the title quarter-fi nals, Al Sadd were Al Duhail went ahead, some- playing a late match against what luckily, through Karim Iran’s Esteghlal in Doha, after Boudiaf after Persepolis defend- winning the fi rst leg 3-1. er Shojae Khalilzadeh’s attempt- “We were never out of the ed clearance from a free-kick match even when we were a goal bounced off the former’s back down,” said Persepolis coach and into the net. Branko Ivankovic. Both teams failed to come up “We knew it was all about with a goal-worthy move for keeping our calm and playing our the remaining part of the fi rst best game,” he added. half, but the pace picked up in Al Duhail coach Nabil Maaloul the second ring which the hosts lamented his team’s missed Al Sadd players, with Xavi on extreme right, celebrate their qualification to the AFC Champions League semi-finals yesterday. PICTURES: Noushad Thekkayil and Agencies were clearly the better side. chances. In the 56th minute, Bashar “We had a great opportunity By Sports Reporter But, just fi ve minutes later, Resan’s eff ort from the edge of to enter the semi-fi nals for the Doha an error by Al Sadd goalkeeper the box was tipped away by Al fi rst time but we missed it. In Meshal Aissa Barsham – who Duhail goalkeeper Amine Le- retrospect we should have scored had scored a comical own-goal comte although the resulting more goals during our home l Sadd reached the in the fi rst leg – handed Es- corner produced the equaliser. match in Doha,” he added. semi-fi nals of the AFC teghlal the equaliser. Rouhollah Champions League af- Bagheri’s strike was fumbled by ter a 2-2 draw against a Barsham and the ball fell into Aresilient Esteghlal in the quar- the net, levelling the score on ter-fi nals at the Jassim Bin Ha- the night. mad stadium yesterday. Having As the second half kicked off , gone into match with a 3-1 lead Esteghlal went on the attack from the fi rst leg in Tehran, the with added vigour and were re- result on their home ground warded four minutes in, when yesterday was enough to send Morteza Tabrizi rose highest to Jesualdo Ferreira’s men in to the head in Farshid Esmaeili’s deliv- last four on a 5-3 on aggregate ery to put the visitors 2-1 ahead. win. Needing just a goal to level Al Sadd will now face another the aggregate score, Esteghlal Iranian side Persepolis in the were rising in confi dence but semi-fi nals. The fi rst leg will be they were struck with a blow in played on October 2nd or 3rd, the 50th minute when Rouzbeh with the second leg scheduled Cheshmi was sent off for a sec- for October 23 or 24. Al Sadd and ond bookable off ence. Persepolis have already locked Afi f then had a shot crash off horns in the group stage, with the left post in the 55th minute both sides winning their home but the game’s complexion had encounter. changed by then. Al Sadd man- Al Sadd coach Jesualdo Against Esteghlal, Al Sadd aged to hold their own against Ferreira reacts during were always the favourites on their 10-man opponents for the the match. home soil and book their place remainder of the game, before in the last four. The game’s fi rst being gifted a penalty deep into goals at Azadi Stadium in the shot on target arrived in the 15th added time. fi rst leg and it just a continu- minute, when Esteghlal mid- Al Sadd were in the middle of ation of his blistering form in fi elder Mehdi Ghayedi’s eff ort a blistering counter as Akram the Champions League this sea- was kept out by Al Sadd goal- was played in by Bounedjah and son. With 12 goals in his kitty keeper Meshaal Aissa. took the ball round Ramati, be- and certain to play two more The hosts took time to settle fore being dragged down inside matches, Bounedjah will be keen into the game but showed just the area as he was about to pull to match or even break the high- how dangerous they can be as the trigger. est goalscoring record. The cur- the fi rst half went on. Hassan al- With 11 goals in the Champi- rent record for goals in an AFC Haydos fashioned a goal-scor- Hassan al-Haydos (top) celebrates with Akram Afif after the latter ons League already to his name Champions League season is ing opportunity out of nothing scored the first goal for Al Sadd. prior to yesterday’s game, it 13, held by Muriqui (2013) and in the 26th minute, topping off was no surprise that Bounedjah Adriano (2016). a great run with a stinging shot, after excellent hold-up play by ing surrounded by a sea of de- stepped up to the spot and he Bounedjah averages just over forcing a save out of Mehdi Rah- Baghdad Bounedjah. Latching fenders before his layoff picked calmly sent Ramati the wrong two shots on target per match, mati. Hassan al-Haydos’ right-wing out the late run of Akram Afi f, way to secure his side’s passage which highlights the 26-year- But it was Al Sadd who broke cross, the Algerian international who coolly fi nished past Mehdi into the last four. old’s ruthlessness in front of Al Duhail’s players congratulate Karim Boudiaf after he scored the deadlock in the 27th minute kept his composure despite be- Ramati into the bottom corner. Bounedjah had scored two goal. against Persepolis at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran yesterday. Gulf Times 2 Tuesday, September 18, 2018 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Qatar SC sack Abdulla, name al-Noobi as coach Qatar SC parted ways with Abdulla Mubarak and made Under-23 coach Youssef Faraj al-Noobi in charge of Neymar is smart to the senior team. Qatar SC thanked Abdulla for his services and hoped the team would improve its position in the QNB Stars League, where they are placed 10th with just three points after five matches. Abdulla had taken over protect himself from the reins of Qatar SC from Argentinian Gabriel Calderon in November, 2017. He was instrumental in The Kings earn- ing promotion to the top flight in the 2017-18 season. injury, says Klopp Win and they can fi ght over Messi’s shirt: PSV coach PSV Eindhoven coach Mark van Bom- Liverpool’s Firmino better but still doubtful for PSG clash at Anfield today mel says his players can fight it out for Barcelona star Lionel Messi’s shirt if AFP they win at the Nou Camp today in the Liverpool Paris Saint-Germain’s Neymar (left) jokes Champions League. Barcelona host the with Kylian Mbappe during a training Dutch league leaders and Van Bommel session in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near wants his players to stay professional as iverpool manager Jurgen Klopp Paris, on the eve of their UEFA Champions they face the player he described as the defended Neymar’s play-act- League match against Liverpool. (AFP) best in the world. “If tomorrow we get a ing at the World Cup and be- good result I don’t care if they fight for lieves it will be impossible to Messi’s shirt,” Van Bommel said.