Al Sadd head coach Hussein Ammouta.
By Sports Reporter/Doha
Former champions Al Sadd’s 1-0 victory over last year’s AFC Champions League runners-up Al Hilal at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Wednesday night was fully deserved, according to a jubilant Al Sadd coach Hussein Ammouta.
Al Sadd icon Khalfan Ibrahim had scored the game’s only goal on the half hour mark minute with a powerful finish after being played through by striker Hasan al-Haydos.
And even though the Saudi giants dominated the majority of the second half as they sought to restore parity, their Qatari hosts held firm to take the victory and jump to the top of Group C.
“I’m extremely happy with this win as we deserved to get this result and the players were determined to get a good victory. I want to thank the players for the good performance that they have shown in the match and their determination to win,” said Al Sadd coach Ammouta.
“The result is important for us and we are now going in the right direction. The road is still long but winning against the runners-up of last year will give us a big boost to continue our good performances in the competition.”
For newly appointed Al Hilal coach Giorgios Donis the defeat was a disappointment as he side failed to build on their 3-1 victory against Lokomotiv of Uzbekistan in Machday One, but the Greek coach was able to put the result into perspective and remained confident of progression into the knockout stage with four group stage matches still remaining.
“The defeat is not the end of the world as we were looking to get a good result but few details sealed the match for Al Sadd. We had a good performance in the first half and created several scoring chances but the last touch was missing,” said Al Hilal coach Donis, who took up his role with the Saudi giants earlier this week.
“We needed a little bit of concentration because our players lost the ball on a few occasions and Al Sadd took advantage from the chance they created and scored the winner.
“We still have a chance and I’m confident that we can make a good comeback.”
