Khalil stars as Shabab Al Ahli widen gap at top over Sharjah

Shabab Al Ahli extended their lead at the top of the Arabian Gulf League table after a hard-fought 3-2 victory against Sharjah at Rashid Stadium in matchweek 13 on Friday.

Majed Nasser succeeded in his first challenge when he denied a powerful strike from Al Hassan Saleh in the 13th minute.

Shabab Al Ahli had the ball most of the time but failed to convert their possession into a goal until the last minute of the first half when they were awarded a free kick. Federico Cartabia rifled the ball into Adel Al Hosany’s net, whose efforts were not enough to save it bringing the host’s score to 1-0.

The King didn’t take long to respond, when Eid Khamis’ poor pass was intercepted by Ryan Mendes who dribbled through Shabab Al Ahli’s defence and scored a goal to level things up in the 52nd minute.

The Cape Verdean winger doubled his own tally in an identical fashion, benefitting from Ricardo Gomes’ outstanding long pass to slot hom Sharjah’s second in the 63rd minute.

Sharjah suffered a blow when Mohammed Abdulbasit was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 76th minute leaving the King with only 10 players.

The hosts too advantage immediately and substitute Ahmed Khalil sent the ball home from the spot to restore parity in the 78th minute.

Shabab Al Ahli were awarded a second penalty in the 83rd minute and Khalil converted past Al Hosani to win it for the home team.

After Shabab Al Ahli’s win, they reach 32 points with, cementing their status as table-toppers with an eight-point lead over their neares chasers, Sharjah.

Meanwhile, Al Dhafra eased past 10-man Fujairah in a 3-1 victory at Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium on Friday.

Al Dhafra only had to wait until the 17th minute to break the deadlock through Joao Pedro who converted Diego Jardel’s in-swinging crossed corner kick past Abdullah Al Tamimi with a diving header.

The Wolves suffered a blow in the 36th minute, as they were brought down to 10 men after Fahad Sabeel was sent off for his dangerous challenge against Amran Al Jassasi.

Things got even worse for Fujairah as they conceded the second goal in the fourth minute of injury time. Khalid Butti’s defence-splitting low cross was finished into the top corner by Suhail Al Mansoori, to make it 2-0 ahead of the break.

The Western Knights’ efforts declined in the second half and around the one-hour mark, Fujairah pulled one back through Fernando Gabriel. The Brazilian’s astonishing freekick effort nestled into the back of the net.

Around 10 minutes before the fulltime whistle, Pedro bagged his second of the night when he received the ball near the halfway line and rifled into the bottom corner following a huge solo run.

The convincing win takes Al Dhafra to the fifth spot with 23 points ahead of their match against Al Jazira.

Fujairah remain in the 12th spot with 10 points just two points away from the relegation zone ahead of their trip to face Al Wahda in matchweek 14 of the Arabian Gulf League.

Sebastian Tagliabue scored a brace as Al Wahda defeated Hatta 2-0 at Al Nahyan Stadium on Friday.

Al Wahda got off to a fiery start as they broke the deadlock just five minutes into the game through Sebastian Tagliabue. Ismael Matar’s cross from the corner kick was met by Lucas Pimenta, who squared the ball to Tagliabue. The striker fired home from a close range to make it 1-0.

Al Wahda continued to dominate position but failed to convert into more goals until the referee blew the halftime whistle.

The second half started with a bang, as Tagliabue completed his brace in the 51st minute. Veteran Matar went up the right flank and sent a low cross towards new signing Paul Mpoku, who squared the ball to Tagliabue to finish calmly into the empty net.

The Tornado tried to reduce the deficit and around the 70-minute mark, Neilton Mestzk advanced towards the box and sent a perfectly executed left footed curler that was brilliantly parried away by Darwish Bin Habib.

Al Wahda remain eighth with 20 points and Hatta sit 13th with eighth points.

The Clarets host Fujairah next week. Meanwhile, Hatta will face Shabab Al Ahli in matchweek 14.