Al Sadd Set for Persepolis
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FINALS) Game 5: Boston Celtics 121, Miami Heat 108 (Tatum 31 pts, Brown 28, Theis 15) * Miami Heat lead series 3-2 FRENCH OPEN Former ACL champions eye quarter-finals spot TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY COURT PHILIPPE-CHATRIER Jannik Sinner (Italy) vs 11-Davsid Goffin (Belgium) Al Sadd set for Persepolis ‘final’ 1-Simona Halep (Romania) vs Sara Sorribes Tormo (Spain) THE PENINSULA – DOHA Al Sadd's players 17-Anett Kontavseit (Estonia) vs Caroline taking part in a Former champions Al Sadd Garcia (France) practice session 16-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland) vs Andy will be looking to settle for ahead of their AFC nothing less than a quarter- Champions League Murray (Britain) finals berth in the AFC Cham- Round of 16 match COURT SUZANNE-LENGLEN pions League (ACL) when they against Iran's 10-Vsictoria Azarenka (Belarus) vs Danka take on Iran’s Persepolis in the Persepolis, which one-off Round of 16 clash Kovsinic (Montenegro) will be played at Jurij Rodionovs (Austria) vs Jeremy today. the Education City Al Sadd, who cruised to the Stadium, today. Chardy (France) pre-quarters with a game to 9-Johanna Konta (Britain) vs spare despite losing to Al Ain in Coco Gauff (US) their last Group match, finished second in Group C behind Al 6-Alexander Zvserevs (Germany) vs Nassr with nine points. Dennis Novsak (Austria) The Qatari side, which has COURT SIMONNE-MATHIEU the strongest attack in the Margarita Gasparyan (Russia) vs 16-Elise competition with 14 goals to Mertens (Belgium) their name so far, will be no easy opponents for Persepolis Anna Karolina Schmiedlovsa (Slovsakia) when the two sides meet for vs Vsenus Williams (US) the seventh time in the history, 23-Benoit Paire (France) vs Kwon and coach Xavi said his team Soon-woo (South Korea) will treat today’s encounter Miomir Kecmanovsic (Serbia) vs 12-Diego ‘like a final’. Speaking during a pre- Schwartzman (Argentina) match press conference, Xavi bin Hamad Stadium, the coach said yesterday: “We are very said: “Education City Stadium excited, we want to win and is a big stadium, but it does not reach the quarter-finals. We change the way we play. Eve- will play against Persepolis, rything is excellent; the con- which is the best Iranian team, ditions are perfect and the Gill’s unbeaten and it will be a difficult game, YESTERDAY’S RESULTS weather is very good and it is like a final, for us.” time to give our best to qualify 70 helps KKR Al Ahli Saudi FC (KSA) 1 - 1 (4-3) Shabab Al Ahli Qatar’s most successful for the next round.” side in the continental tour- Dubai (UAE) In the meantime, this is the clinch easy nament, Al Sadd have Pakhtakor (UZB) 2 - 1 Esteghlal FC (IRN) sixth time Persepolis have appeared in the competition TODAY'S FIXTURES made it to the knockout stage. win over SRH on 13 occasions, reaching the Persepolis FC (IRN) vs Al Sadd (QAT) Al Sadd coach Xavi “We face a difficult knockout stage six times prior At Education City Stadium (16:40) Hernandez during encounter against a strong and IANS – DUBAI to 2020, winning the title in Al Nassr (KSA) vs Al Taawoun FC (KSA) a press conference organised Al Sadd team,” said 2011 and reaching the semi- yesterday. Persepolis captain Seyed Jalal finals in 2018 and 2019. At Education City Stadium (20:45) Hosseini ahead of the Opener Shubman Gill (70 not out) “It will be an excellent encounter, which is arguably and Eoin Morgan (42 not out) put game and a great opportunity they needed to qualify,” the Persepolis and Esteghlal, and penalty shootout. Otherwise, the biggest clash in the last 16 up 92 runs for the fourth wicket to to qualify for the quarter- Spaniard said. Xavi said the most spirited we will struggle to achieve stage. help Kolkata Knight Riders beat finals. We respect Persepolis “We will face a strong and matches that he has faced in what we are looking for, which “All teams in the AFC SunRisers Hyderabad by seven and we will not forget that they difficult team. We will play for his career are always against is going to the quarter-finals,” Champions League are strong wickets with two overs to spare at knocked us out in the 2018 possession and control of the Iranian teams. Xavi said. and we know Al Sadd have the Dubai International Cricket semi-finals,” the Barca legend match, and this is a key point “I told the players that the The former Al Sadd captain some really good players espe- Stadium yesterday. said. for us. We have an advantage most spirited matches that I also pointed out that the hosts cially in attack, but we have Gill and Morgan helped KKR “We must play with with the rest that the players have faced in my career are will have a full-strength team intelligent analysts who will do survive an early wobble in their balance and great passion in got, but we must be fully always against Iranian teams, against Persepolis, and said: well to analyse the opponents chase of 143 after SRH dragged order to get the win. We hope prepared.” including Persepolis, who play “All the players of the team are and the coaching staff will help themselves to 142/4 wickets in 20 to achieve this by giving our The 2011 winners Al Sadd with great enthusiasm. So we fully prepared and there are us prepare well. It will be a overs. KKR finished at 145/3 in 18 best on the pitch. Our priority SC are the only former cham- need to play with a lot of no absentees.” tough game for both sides,” overs. in the match against Sepahan pions in contention in the West passion, like it’s a final and As for playing at Education Hosseini said. KKR lost opener Sunil Narine was to rest some players after Asia region. There are two always be focused throughout City Stadium after playing the The match kicks off at for a duck in the second over after qualifying, but for Persepolis, Iranian teams in the last 16, the match, even if we reach the previous four games at Jassim 4.40pm. which Nitish Rana smashed a quickfire 26 off 13 balls. Rana hit six fours in his short innings which pro- vided a cushion for Morgan and Gill Qatari, Palestinian Al Ahli SFC edge Shabab Al Ahli on as they looked to regain control of the chase. KKR were momentarily put on FA Presidents meet penalties to seal quarter-final spot the backfoot after Rana and captain Dinesh Karthik fell in a relatively QNA – DOHA AFC – DOHA short period. While Rana was caught behind off T Natarajan in the President of Qatar Football Association (QFA) Al Ahli Saudi FC fifth over, Karthik fell for a duck to Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani advanced to the 2020 Rashid Khan in the seventh. Gill and met with his Palestinian counterpart Major AFC Champions League Morgan, however, settled down and General Jibril Al Rajoub, who is currently visiting quarter-finals after regained control of the match. Gill the country. beating Shabab Al Ahli hit five fours and two sixes while The meeting dealt with issues of joint interest Dubai FC 4-3 on Morgan hit three fours and two and expanding cooperation between the two penalties after the 120 sixes. sides. QFA also pledged to provide 100,000 minutes of their Round Earlier, SRH won the toss and medical swabs and 3,000 COVID-19 kits to the of 16 clash ended in a 1-1 chose to bat -- the first time any Palestinian Football Association. draw at Al Janoub team has done that this season. Al Rajoub expressed his appreciation for QFA’s Stadium yesterday. Ahli Saudi FC's forward Omar Al Somah shoots to score during the AFC Champions Manish Pandey top scored with 51 support, stressing that the Palestinian Football The two sides had League Round of 16 match against UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli yesterday. off 38 balls as SRH scraped their Association is committed to enhancing bilateral met at the same round way to 142/4 in 20 overs. cooperation in light of the big experience of QFA in 2017 when Al Ahli emerged 4-2 back of the net to hand Shabab Al Lima and Youssef Jaber found the Captain David Warner got to to help develop the game in Palestine. winners on aggregate to reach the Ahli Dubai the lead. Within eight net. Abdulrahman Ghareeb scored spend more time in the middle than quarter-finals, before exiting at the minutes of the restart, they had won for Al Ahli and Ganiev kept the he did in the previous match in hands of Persepolis FC. a penalty after Ganiev brought Al margin at one goal with three spot which he faced just six balls before Within five minutes Al Ahli Muwashar down inches inside the kicks taken. Defender Hawsawi con- being dismissed. On Saturday, he Ooredoo Cup: Al Khor thought they had already taken the box.