Dominant Duhail Slam Four Goals Against Hosts Al
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FFOOTBALLOOTBALL | Page 2 CCYCLINGYCLING | Page 7 All roads lead Froome to Rome for suff ers in Sicily, double-chasing Wellens wins Juventus fourth stage Wednesday, May 9, 2018 CRICKET Sha’baan 23, 1439 AH Paine to captain ODI GULF TIMES team in England as new Aussie era starts SPORT Page 4 FOOTBALL / AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOTLIGHT We are capable Dominant Duhail of qualifying slam four goals to quarters: Al Sadd’s Khoukhi By Sports Reporter and dominated the initial ex- Doha changes. against hosts Al Ain Al Sadd doubled the lead in the 28th minute with Khoukhi orward Boualem Khoukhi sending a powerful header past was confi dent Al Sadd goalkeeper Mohamed al-Owais Youssef El Arabi, Nam Tae-hee, Ismail Mohamed and Almoez Ali score for Duhail can win the AFC Cham- following an assist from Baghdad pions League Round of Bounedjah. F16 return leg against Al Ahli and Al Sadd carried their two goal enter the quarter-fi nals. cushion into the second half but Khoukhi’s brace at home saw their advantage cut within earned him the man of the match two minutes of resumption, with and Sadd a victory 2-1 in fi rst leg Mohannad Aseri heading in cross on Monday. The second leg will from Amir Kurdi. be played in Jeddah next Monday. “Al Sadd pushed forward from “Al Sadd pushed forward the beginning and we scored from the beginning and twice in the fi rst half. However, we scored twice in the fi rst we conceded in the second half half. However, we conceded and our determination was hit. in the second half and our Anyway, what is important is determination was hit. that we got a win in this game,” Anyway, what is important Khoukhi said after the match. is that we got a win in this He also expressed his hap- game,” Khoukhi said piness after performance, say- ing that it would help him give Al Sadd head coach Jesualdo his best in the second leg. “The Ferreira expressed his dissatis- match was tough, just as we ex- faction after conceding an away pected, but we had a lot of easy goal and said Al Ahli will be dif- chances, which could have been fi cult to beat at home. enough to put us in a strong po- “This is not a good result. Al sition for the away leg. Regard- Ahli will be tough to play against less, we are capable of achieving in front of their fans, especially a positive result with determina- as they need just one goal to tion and desire,” he said. qualify. This is a tough for us and At the Jassim bin Hamad I am very disappointed,” he said Stadium, Qatar international “We did not defend well. Khoukhi was on target as early as Pedro’s return will be a good in the third minute, coolly scor- thing for us in the away game. I ing from close range after a fi ne am not pessimistic, I’m realistic. pass from Xavi Hernandez as Al The game in Jeddah is going to be Sadd capitalised on a bright start extremely diffi cult.” Al Duhail’s Almoez Ali (right) celebrates after scoring a goal against Al Ain during the first leg of their AFC Champions League Round of 16 match in Al Ain yesterday. (AFP) By Sports Reporter hamed put his side further ahead in the Al Ain, UAE 48th minute with a fi ne chip over Eisa, after being set up by Tae-hee. Tae-hee was involved in Al Duhail’s atar’s Al Duhail continued their fourth goal just seven minutes later, impressive run in the 2018 threading a through ball for Almoez Ali, AFC Champions League with a whose fi erce low strike went in at the near dominating 4-2 away win over post to give the Qatari side a scarcely be- QUAE’s Al Ain in the fi rst leg of their Round lievable 4-0 lead. of 16 clash at the Hazza bin Zayed Sta- Al Ain’s fi ghtback only gathered steam dium yesterday. towards the last half hour, with two sub- The QNB Stars League champions ran stitutes helping them reduce the defi cit. through their opposition after goals from Former AFC Player of the Year Ahmed Youssef El Arabi, Nam Tae-hee, Ismail Khalil was fi rst, heading in from close Mohamed and Almoez Ali. Substitutes range in the 68th minute to make it 4-1. In Ahmed Khalil and Ibrahim grabbed two the 86th minute, Ibrahim Diaky popped back for the hosts. The return leg takes up in the six-yard area to slam home a place in Doha next Tuesday. rebound after Amine Lecomte parried Last night’s victory meant Djamel Bel- Omar Abdulrahman’s free-kick. The madi’s men became only the second ever hosts went searching for a third goal but team in AFC Champions League history the night got worse for them as Caio was Al Sadd forward Boualem Khoukhi (centre) scored both the goals in to win their fi rst seven games in the com- shown the red card for violent conduct. his team’s 2-1 win over Al Ahli on Monday. petition. Four away goals means Duhail has one They had six wins from as many foot in the quarter-fi nals. Still the only matches in the group stage to become the UAE club to win the Champions League, fi rst team since Kashima Antlers in 2010 Al Ain will have their work cut out to Guangzhou held by Tianjin, Buriram to progress with a 100 percent record. progress to the quarter-fi nals. surprise Jeonbuk The Red Knights have never won the Al Ain now need to score three goals in premier Asian title before, but they Doha in the return leg and hope that Du- In other last 16 AFC Champions League matches, Guangzhou Ever- showed yesterday that they have it in hail doesn’t score, to keep their last eight grande were held to a goalless draw by fellow Chinese Super League them to create history in 2018. This was chances alive. side Tianjin Quanjian in the first leg of their Asian Champions League the fi rst ever encounter between these Al Duhail’s Youssef El Arabi (left) heads the ball during the match against Al Ain. (AFP) The match in Doha next week repre- round of 16 clash as Thailand’s Buriram United edged Jeonbuk Motors two teams in the AFC Champions League. sents Al Ain’s fi nal fi xture of a largely suc- in a five-goal thriller. Ahead of the match, Belmadi had spo- when Moroccan striker El Arabi struck in Qataris in the 39th minute with a mag- cessful season in which they secured the Buriram will take a one-goal advantage into the second leg in ken about how Duhail will approach the the 16th minute. nifi cent solo eff ort. The Korea Republic Arabian Gulf League title for the fi rst time South Korea against the two-time winners following a 3-2 win at match against UAE champions Al Ain Al Ain goalkeeper Khaled Eisa did well star nutmegged Ahmed Barman near the in three years and also clinched the Presi- the Thunder Castle, but Son Joon-ho’s late goal ensured Jeonbuk without any fear. And they walked the to save El Arabi’s initial header but the Al halfway line before sprinting away from dent’s Cup crown. It marked the fi rst time will go into the second leg confident of advancing. talk in what was the biggest real test of Duhail frontman pounced on the rebound Mohamed Abdulrahman and netting past in the club’s history that they completed In Isfahan, Giorgi Gvelesiani’s last-gasp penalty kick was the diff er- their title credentials. and hit a powerful eff ort that went in off Eisa to make it 2-0. that double in the same campaign. But ence as Zobahan overcome fellow Iranian side Esteghlal 1-0 in the The visitors started the game the more Mohamed Ahmed. Al Duhail picked up from where they against a dominant Duhail strike force the first leg. energetic side and stunned the home fans Tae-hee then doubled the lead for the left off in the second half and Ismail Mo- hosts had no answers on the night. Gulf Times 2 Wednesday, May 9, 2018 FOOTBALL ITALIAN CUP FOCUS FIFA fi nes All roads lead to Rome for Russia over racist double-chasing Juventus chants Reuters Moscow Milan have not won a major trophy since Allegri led them to the Serie A title in 2011 orld Cup hosts Rus- AFP sia have been fi ned Milan 30,000 Swiss francs for discriminatory Wchants by fans, FIFA said yes- ll roads lead to Rome this week terday, after racist abuse was for Juventus who will look to directed at French players dur- seal the Italian Cup and Se- ing a friendly in St Petersburg in rie A double in the space of March. A photographer at pitch Afour days at the Stadio Olimpico. Mas- level for France’s 3-1 win over similiano Allegri’s Turin giants take on Russia heard monkey chants di- his former club AC Milan in the Italian rected at French players on sev- Cup fi nal today, and on Sunday play AS eral occasions, including when Roma needing just one point to rubber- midfi elder N’Golo Kante came stamp a seventh successive Serie A title. to the touchline for a throw- Milan have not won a major trophy in.