Al Sadd's Paulo Otavio (right) battles for the ball with a Sharjah FC player.
Doha: Sharjah FC came from behind to force an entertaining 1-1 draw with Al Sadd SC in their AFC Champions League Elite 2025/26 tie at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium yesterday.
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.
Paulo Otavio congratulates Akram Afif after the latter scored a goal.
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 left 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.
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 on Matchday One.
Sharjah will meet Iran’s Tractor FC on October 20 while Al Saad face Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal SFC the next day.
