UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli won their second title in as many years in the Qatar-UAE Super Cup after defeating Al Rayyan 3-1 to lift the Challenge Shield at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on Thursday. Shabab Al Ahli had defeated Qatar’s Al Duhail 2-1 to win the Super Shield in Dubai in the inaugural bilateral tournament last year.
Shabab Al Ahli’s goals came from Yuri Cesar (28th minute), Sardar Azmoun (52nd minute), and Guilherme Bala (90+7 minutes), while Al Rayyan were gifted an own goal by Shabab Al Ahli’s Renan in the 42nd minute of the highly entertaining encounter.
The visitors kept their pressure against the hosts, but Al Rayyan’s goalkeeper Paulo Victor, who was in fantastic shape, stood between them and what could have been a flurry of goals until the 28th minute when the Brazil-born Emirati midfielder Cesar found the back of the net following an assist by Bala, who snatched the ball from Al Rayyan’s Murad Naji near the centre line.
Al Rayyan’s Roger Guedes made some darting moves in the visitors final third in the 42nd minute that resulted in an own goal by Shabab Al Ahli’s Renan to ensure the match was even at half-time.
After the break, the visitors took the lead again in the 52nd minute through Azmoun, who finished off a diagonal cross from Bala in the 18-yard box with a simple tap-in. A search for an equaliser by Al Rayyan almost yielded the desired result in the 73rd minute, but Shabab Al Ahli’s goalkeeper Hamad al-Meqebaali made a fingertip save of what was almost a headed goal by Guedes. Substitute Tameem Mansour wasted a golden opportunity to equalise for Al Rayyan in two minutes of added time when he was set up for a sitter, but the Qatari forward’s right-footed shot went painfully wide.
Five minutes later, Shabab Al Ahli extended their lead by two goals with Bala having the simplest of tap-ins after being fed by Eid Khamis, following a fast counterattack that started from the edge of Al Rayyan’s 18-yard box, to make it 3-1 for the Emiratis as they clinch the title.