An Aspire Academy player (left) vies for the ball with his Villareal counterpart during their match yesterday.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
A hugely dramatic fourth day of football at the LFP – Aspire Challenge tournament yesterday evening saw 10 penalties, four red-cards, and huge disappointment as the tournament’s two Qatari teams failed to overcome their Spanish La Liga opponents.
With hundreds of spectators in the stands to cheer their favoured team, kicking off the first of six games yesterday was a thrilling all-Spanish encounter between Malaga and Sevilla.
Defensive and dull for much of the opening half, the match soon stepped up a gear in the 32nd minute when Sevilla defender Javier Perez was fouled inside the Malaga box.
Awarded a penalty, Sevilla’s Carlos Delgado stepped up and made it 1-0 with ease.
Sevilla then doubled their lead in the closing minute when midfielder Juan Perez dribbled past two Malaga players before slotting a shot away into the net’s bottom corner.
Playing simultaneously were Schools United, a team of Qatari schoolboys, and Sporting de Gijon.
With both sides having finished bottom of their respective groups, the match was a chance for either team to restore some pride in their final game of the tournament.
After a goalless first-half, a penalty kick from Farid Saif eventually put the Qatari footballers in front. Although, much to the disappointment of United’s gathered Qatari fans, this opening goal was soon cancelled out by a brilliant equaliser from Sporting’s Daniel Charro in the 46th minute and then, just minutes from full-time, a dramatic second goal by Charro ensured a hard-earned 2-1 victory for the Spaniards.
Local fans were then dealt further disappointment when Aspire Academy went down 0-4 against Villareal.
Villareal went ahead after just 26 seconds through a brilliant lone effort from Manuel Arino.
Fifteen minutes later, Arino recorded his second of the game after chesting down a lobbed-pass in the air, running into the Aspire box and aiming a drilled shot straight into the bottom left corner.
Things just went from bad to worse for Aspire with Villareal’s Luis Daschner scoring his side’s third ten minutes later. Adding insult to injury just before half-time, Villareal got their fourth with an excellent lobbed shot from Ivan Nunez.
Sadly, after an excellent first-half, the second-half was mired in controversy with two red-cards awarded to Aspire Academy and a one awarded to Villareal.
Other games yesterday included a 4-4 thriller between La Liga sides Celta de Vigo and Espanyol Barcelona. With an equaliser in the last minute from Celta’s Alvaro Otero, the game was eventually settled on penalties in Celta’s favour after the Spanish side scored all five of their spot-kicks and Espanyol just four.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid were able to book a place in the tournament final with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Group C leaders Valencia. Scoring the game’s only goal was Madrid defender Jose Sabater with a towering header from a set-piece. The final result means that Atletico will now go up against Villareal in the hotly-anticipated Gold Final today evening.
