Sharjah FC came from behind to force an entertaining 1-1 draw with Al Sadd in their AFC Champions League Elite 2025-26 tie at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium Tuesday.The hosts’ Akram Afif’s cracker of a shot in the 18th minute was cancelled out by the UAE side’s Caio Fernandes in the 73rd minute to give the teams a share of the points.Sharjah were the early aggressors, with Rei Manaj and Caio Fernandes both sending their attempts over the bar within the first six minutes while Manaj blasted his free-kick straight into the defensive wall in the eighth minute.Afif, however, flipped the script in the 18th minute when he came down the right, cut in and rifled an unstoppable shot from 20 yards past Darwish Habib’s right hand.The thrills continued two minutes later when the UAE side were awarded a penalty after Boualem Khoukhi handled the ball, but keeper Meshaal Barsham judged correctly, diving to his right and palming out Caio’s attempt.The game slowed down after the initial rush, with the next noteworthy moment coming in the 40th minute when Manaj picked up a pass from Khaled Ebraheim, pivoted in the box and let loose a shot that rattled the left post. Barsham pulled off a fine save from Manaj in the 61st minute after the striker controlled the ball and side-footed from close range while his counterpart Darwish pulled off an equally important save four minutes later from Rafael Mujica inside the area.Sharjah’s determination was finally rewarded when Caio made amends for his penalty miss, picking up a lovely chip from Adel Taarabt in the 73rd minute and blasting home from just outside the six-yard box. Barsham prevented Sharjah from increasing the scoreline 10 minutes later when he went into a full-length dive to prevent Ousmane Camara’s low shot from going into the bottom left corner.Al Sadd coach Felix Sanchez sounded disappointed after his side were held to a draw by Sharjah, with the Spaniard saying his team had “lost two points” at home.“We took the lead in the first half,” Sanchez said at the post-match press conference. “We wanted to continue the same performance in the second half and play attacking football, but the team retreated and we conceded a goal unexpectedly. The match was evenly balanced, and we were unable to control it.”Sanchez said that a draw was not the target, especially on home soil.“Yes, we definitely lost two points. We should have won, and our goal was to win the match. We got a point, but it wasn’t enough,” he said. Sanchez acknowledged the need for improvement while pointing to the absence of key players.“I made several changes during the match, some of which were necessary, as we wanted to increase the pressure on the opposing team. We didn’t achieve the desired result, and I don’t want to find excuses, but we are waiting for the return of Claudinho and other injured players. We have a good team, and we must develop ourselves in the coming period,” the former Qatar coach said.The result leaves 2011 champions Al Sadd still looking for their first win after their 1-1 opening stalemate with Iraq’s Al Shorta while Sharjah have amassed four points after their 4-3 win against Qatar’s Al Gharafa SC on Matchday One. Sharjah will meet Islamic Republic of Iran’s Tractor FC on Oct 20 while Al Sadd face Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal SFC the next day.-www.the-afc.com
