Al Duhail remain unbeaten as Al Gharafa beat Tractor Sazi

DOHA: Al Duhail’s young midfielder Abdelrahman Fahmi was on target as the Qatari football giants completed the 2018 AFC Champions League group stage with an outstanding 100 percent record following a 1-0 win over UAE’s Al Wahda yesterday.

At the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium in Doha, Fahmi made the most out of the opportunity he was given and scored the winner for the home team in the 47th minute.

Having already secured their berth in the pre-quarters, Al Duhail coach Djamel Belmadi rested some of the key players and opted for a number of youngsters in yesterday’s match.

The hosts were handed an advantage in the 39th minute when Al Wahda defender Salem Sultan was sent off after pulling down Youssef El Arabi who was through on goal.

Al Duhail took advantage of their numerical superiority and opened the scoring just two minutes into the second half, as young winger Fahmi netted with aplomb following a fine give-and-go with El Arabi.

The match saw little action at either half thereafter, and only came alive in the 84th minute, when Al Duhail were also reduced to 10 men after Lucas Mendes was shown his marching orders.

The decision had no effect on the result and Al Duhail held on to clinch their sixth straight victory and become just the fourth side in history to win all their group games in the AFC Champions League.

Belmadi’s men will now play Group D runners-up Al Ain in the Round of 16.

Elsewhere, Al Gharafa defeated Tractor Sazi Tabriz 3-1 to end their 2018 AFC Champions League Group A campaign on a high yesterday.

In a battle between two eliminated teams, it was Tractor Sazi who showed urgency early on and it was they who made the breakthrough.

Just after the half hour mark, the Iranian side took the lead for the first time in this year’s campaign after Mohammad Iranpourian dispatched a penalty, which had been awarded for a foul on Amir Arsalan Motahari.

But Al Gharafa made a stronger approach in the second half and in the 70th minute, they turned the game around in the space of seven minutes.

Moayed Hassan first curled the ball in a free-kick to level the scores before adding another six minutes later.

Taremi’s through ball sent Hassan racing through towards an advancing keeper and he duly squared it across for Abdelaziz Hatem to tap into an empty goal.

Taremi then finally got something to show for his efforts on the night, when he sent a fierce strike past Karousian in the 87th minute to make it 3-1 and register his fifth goal of the campaign.

Al Gharafa thus finished level on points with second-placed Al Jazira in Group A, but lost out on a Round of 16 spot due to an inferior head-to-head record with their rivals.

Tractor Sazi ended up at the bottom of the group after failing to muster a single win throughout the tournament.