NBA | Page 7 FOOTBALL | Page 3 Raptors trim Ronaldo To Advertise here Trail Blazers, hits four as Call: 444 11 300, 444 66 621 record 12th Real Madrid home win thrash Celta Sunday, March 6, 2016 Jumada I 26, 1437 AH CRICKET India take on GULF TIMES confi dent Bangladesh in Asia Cup fi nal SPORT Page 6 By Jorge! Rayyan are the champions Fossati’s men thrash Al Wakrah 5-1 to win Qatar Stars League after a gap of 21 years with five matches to spare By Sports Reporter It was Al Rayyan’s fi rst title win since the division title the following season and won a seemingly praying with his hands folded but Al by a yellow card by referee Abdulrahman Abdu Doha 1994-95 season. Coached by shrewd Uruguay- promotion to QSL. Rayyan players ensured a straight forward win who otherwise had an easy game to offi ciate. an Fossati, they relied on goals from ace strikers Since September last year, it has been Al would be the order of the day. Tabata, who was benched in the 87th minute, Rodrigo Tabata and Sebastian Soria to launch Rayyan all the way with just one blip against Al With thousands of Al Rayyan of fans present hugged coach Fossati before celebrating with l Rayyan are the Qatar Stars League their goal-scoring spree. Sadd almost three months ago. After a slightly at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, the visitors put his teammates in the dugout. Minutes later, the champions, and the way they did Spain’s Sergio Garcia scored the third goal cagey start to the round 21 clash at Jassim Bin up an impressive show in front of audience that talismanic captain who has been the standout it would be etched in the country’s in the 57th minute as Al Rayyan moved towards Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan got their act to- also included Qatar national coach Daniel Car- player for the Lions lifted the falcon shield much sporting folklore for long. completing a comprehensive win. South Korean gether to put pressure on Al Wakrah. reno. to the delight of the Rayyan fans in attendance. AJorge Fossati’s men swept aside all comers to midfi elder Koh scored the fourth for Al Rayyan In the 8th minute, Hamid Ismail chipped in a Jose Mauricio, coach of Al Wakrah, made “It was a fantastic tournament for us and the sweep the title with fi ve matches to spare and in the 67th minute. neat lob from the fl ank but Soria failed to con- several changes on the fi eld of play but a de- boys have really showed what they are capable lay a marker for all future champions to emu- Victor Javier Caceres joined in the fun to nect from close range, missing power on his termined Al Rayyan were not to be denied their of,” Fossati said. “We were determined to win late. score Al Rayyan’s fi fth goal in the 72nd minute. fl ick. Soon afterwards Al Rayyan discarded the QSL crown. the league at the start, but we never thought we The only problem is they probably won’t, at After 21 rounds, Al Rayyan have an unassailable iff y game and played to their potential with slick In the 57th minute, Soria found an unmarked would win it so convincingly,” the Uruguayan, least for a few years to come. tally of 60 points. moves. Garcia in the Al Wakrah box and the former Es- who previously has also coached the Qatar na- Yesterday, playing their 21st match of the In the on-going season, Al Rayyan’s only Infl uential striker and captain Tabata opened panyol striker curled one past goalkeeper Has- tional team, said. league, they only needed to draw with Al Wak- defeat has come against Al Sadd when the two the scoring in the 37th minute while Soria san Idriss Dicko for his side’s third goal. Fossati, however, said Al Rayyan will not rest rah to ensure enough points and nail the title. sides clashed on December 10. fl icked one home from close range to give Al Within a space of fi ve minutes, Garcia and on their laurels. But a draw was not in their plans and they did It has been a remarkable journey for Al Rayy- Rayyan the 2-0 cushion going into half time. Caceres also added their names to the goal- “We have the Qatar Cup and the Emir Cup it in a manner that has become their trademark: an who were relegated to the second division at Seconds before the kick-off Fossati was scorer’s list. Perhaps the only blemish came coming up. We will celebrate hard but after a they coasted to a 5-1 win. the end of 2013-14 season. They won the second shown on the large screen inside the stadium when Al Rayyan’s Tahir Zakariya was slapped few days it will be back to football.” Gulf Times 2 Sunday, March 6, 2016 SPORT PREVIEW Al Rayyan’s big day Lekhwiya aim for second By Sports reporter Champions League this season. Doha We will look to do well in all these competitions,” said Bel- madi. ith Al Rayyan win- The Algerian was also look- ning the Qatar Stars ing at the next two matches League with plenty as preparation for his team’s of spare, defend- next Champions League match Wing champions Lekhwiya will be against Al Nassr. “Playing Umm hoping to fi nish a distant second Salal and Al Khor will be good as the tournament hits its fi nal preparations for our games straight. against Al Nassr in the Champi- Coming off a huge 5-0 loss ons League. The better we play to Al Rayyan, Lekhwiya will be against these teams, the better keen to get back to winning ways we do in the Champions League when they take on Umm Salal, in tie,” said Belmadi. their next match. Umm Salal are currently in “We are now back to the QSL fi fth place at the moment with 31 after our Champions League points and will harbour dreams outing. Our last result (against of fi nishing the league in the top Al Rayyan) wasn’t good. We 4. They are currently four points want to erase that picture. We off Sadd in fourth. Also snapping want to come back and will look at their heels are Al Arabi (30 to play a good game and take points) and Al Sailiya (28 points). all three points,” said Lekhwiya In their last match they ended Head Coach Djamel Belmadi up with a 4-4 draw against Al during his pre-match press con- Gharafa and Umm Salal Head ference yesterday. Coach Bulent Uygun wants his Belmadi was happy with the team to do better in this match. performance of his players dur- “In our last game against Ghara- ing their Champions League fa, we had a good game but Al Rayyan captain Rodrigo Tabata receiving the Qatar Stars League Falcon Shield from Qatar Football Association President Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed al-Thani match against Iran’s Zobahan couldn’t get the three points. We after they defeated Al Wakrah 5-1 at the Al Sadd Club yesterday. It was Al Rayyan’s eighth league title, which came after a gap of 21 years. which they draw to collect one will try to do well in this match away point. and get a better result,” said Uy- “We didn’t have time to com- gun. plain about our loss against Umm Salal will miss the serv- Rayyan. We had an immediate ices of their strikers Mounir El Al Rayyan’s South American stars Rodrigo Tabata Champions League match. It’s Hamdaoui and Yannick Sagbo of Brazil (L) and Sebastian Soria celebrate one of very diffi cult when you have to but Coach Uygun is confi dent their team’s goals against Al Wakrah yesterday. Pics: play in Iran. I would like to thank that his bench will be able to step Noushad Thekkayil and Shemeer. my players for the good reaction up. “We will miss the strikers they showed in that game,” said but we will use the appropriate the Algerian. strategy to put forward our best With the QSL title wrapped off ence. I have confi dence in my up, defending champions Le- players,” said Uygun. khwiya will have to look at the As for their top 4 dreams, Uy- Cup competitions to grab some gun said that they were still in silverware this season. the hunt. “Our ambition is to be “For me the end of the season among the top 4 teams and we is very exciting. The League is will do our best to realize that already over. But the second play target. We know that the teams is important for the next Asian who are in front of us are strong. Champions League campaign. But we will continue to get max- And then there are the two Cup imum points to help us to get competitions. We also have the there,” he said. Mesaimeer facing QSL chop Doha: With just four points that has two wins in the Asian from their 20 QSL matches, Champions League. We will Mesaimeer will be relegated go with a defensive approach. to the Qatar Gas League at We will block their play in the the end of the season if they middle of the pitch and look to don’t defeat El Jaish today. Me- get a draw out of this match,” saimeer Head Coach Rodion said Gacanin.