Pereira, Alcacer excel as Sharjah start campaign with win over Shabab Al Ahli

Luan Pereira and Francisco Alcacer were on target as Sharjah started their Adnoc Pro League campaign with a 2-0 away win over Shabab Al Ahli at the Rashid Stadium in Dubai on Saturday.

The visitors took just eight minutes to open the scoring when Ousmane Camara sent a low cross into the penalty area, where Luan Pereira met it with a first-time curling right-footed effort into the back of the net.

Camara could have cemented his side's lead in the 17th minute, but the referee disallowed the goal after reviewing the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) due to an offside on the Guinean player.

Shabab Al Ahli were unlucky when Harib Abdalla Suhail could have leveled the scoring in the 2nd minute of the first half's stoppage time when he met Azizjon Ganiev's brilliant cross with a first-time volley, but his effort went just wide.

Only two minutes before the final whistle, Francisco Alcacer sealed the victory and snatched the three points for his side, when Ebraheim Aldhanhani teed Camara up, with the latter cutting inside the penalty area and beating the goalkeeper, before sending a low-cross Alcacer who met it with a clinical finish.

However, the hosts dominated most of the game, unleashing 12 efforts, four of which were within the frame of the goal, while the hosts produced only two shots on target out of four.

In the other matches, Ali Mabkhout was on target twice in Al Jazira’s 2-0 win over promoted Dibba at the Mohamed Bin Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, while Al Dhafra held Al Nasr to a 1-1 stalemate at the Hamdan Bin Zayed Stadium.