Qatar’s Al Sadd and Al Gharafa both were held to a draw in the AFC Champions League Elite yesterday. At Dubai’s Zabeel Stadium, ten-man Al Wasl of the United Arab Emirates held on to claim a point as Milos Milojevic’s side frustrated Al Sadd in a 1-1 draw. Few kilometres away at the Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai, Al Gharafa missed a string of late chances as they also shared a 1-1 draw with Iran side Persepolis.
Al Wasl’s Soufiane Bouftini was sent off with seven minutes remaining of regulation time to leave his side to hang on after Al Sadd’s Romain Saiss had cancelled out Alexis Perez’s 29th minute opener for the home side.
The result means Al Sadd remain unbeaten as the league phase reaches the halfway point with Felix Sanchez’s side moving onto eight points from four games while Al Wasl are a further point behind.
Sanchez said happy with the draw but felt his side was better the team. “We deserved to win and get the three points but I am happy with my team’s performance. We played against a good and organised team and got an important point in our journey in the Champions League,” he said.
“We are on the right track towards qualification [for knockout stage], and this is the most important thing for us at the moment,” Sanchez added.
Yusuf Abdurisag squandered an early chance to put Al Sadd in front when he was played in by Akram Afif, the newly crowned AFC Player of the Year sliding the ball across the face of goal in the eighth minute but the striker sliced his close-range effort woefully wide.
Moments later Afif’s effort at the end of an Al Sadd counter was deflected into the side-netting by Bouftini as the visitors significant exerted early pressure without gaining a tangible reward.
Khaled al-Senani then parried Abdurisag’s effort from outside the area to safety in the 19th minute but, for all the visitors’ dominance, it was Al Wasl who should have taken the lead two minutes later.
Srdan Mijailovic’s cross on the run from the left was deftly controlled by Haris Seferovic with his first touch, the Swiss forward then rolling the ball across the face of goal to the unmarked Jonatas Santos, who somehow managed to shoot high over the bar.
Al Wasl did not have to wait much longer, however, to go in front. Al Sadd midfielder Mohamed Camara gave the ball away cheaply in his own half to Perez and he strode forward to hit a right-foot shot from 30 yards that took a huge deflection off Boualem Khoukhi to beat wrongfooted goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham.
Camara shot over the bar and Saiss sent his free kick well off target as Al Sadd sought an equaliser before the interval, with the leveller eventually coming 16 minutes into the second half.
The Al Wasl defence had only managed to half-clear an in-swinging Afif free kick from the left and the ball was eventually sent back into the penalty area by Khoukhi, who whipped his cross from the right onto the head of Saiss inside the six yard box.
Cristo Perez’s shot almost caught out al-Senani with a little over 10 minutes remaining as Al Sadd sought the winner, the Al Wasl goalkeeper readjusting to punch clear, and soon after Bouftini was dismissed. Referee Muhammad Nazmi Nasaruddin reviewed the Moroccan’s robust tackle on Mostafa Meshaal and deemed it dangerous enough to show the red card, but Al Wasl clung on despite being a man down to claim a point.
Meanwhile, Gharafa‘s Ahmed al-Ganehi scored an equaliser just three minutes after Farshad Faraji had put Persepolis in front in the 53rd minute but the Qatari side squandered a series of opportunities to take all three points.
The result moves Al Gharafa onto four points from their first four games in the league phase while Persepolis continue to look for their first win with Juan Carlos Fernandez’s side on two points at the halfway stage. Persepolis’ Faraji sent as flying volley over the bar in the fifth minute and Florinel Coman smashed his right-foot shot wide of the Iranian side’s goal in a lively opening from both sides.
The tempo soon dropped and, while Joselu’s spectacular overhead kick was kept out by the Persepolis defence in the 20th minute, neither side was able to make much attacking headway.
That changed in the 38th minute, when Oston Urunov’s low drive looked destined for the bottom corner of the Al Gharafa goal until Sergio Rico threw himself to his left to make a sprawling save to deny the Uzbekistan international.
Rico was called upon again four minutes later, this time shovelling Faraji’s close range header clear after the Persepolis defender had found space behind the Al Gharafa backline to meet Omid Alishah’s lofted free kick into the box.
The Iranians continued to look the more likely to score following the interval, with Soroush Rafiei curling his 51st minute attempt over the bar before Faraji finally found the back of the net.
Vahid Amiri’s long throw looped deep into the Al Gharafa penalty area and, after the ball took a single bounce in the six yard box, Faraji slammed his shot past an exposed Rico.
Persepolis’ lead was to last less than three minutes, the ball falling at the feet of al-Ganehi and his first-time strike seared past Alexis Guendouz to pull the visitors level mere moments after the forward had been introduced from the Al Gharafa bench.
Yacine Brahimi then went close to putting Al Gharafa in front, just missing the top corner with a curling free kick and Coman shot over the bar as Persepolis’ grip on the game looked increasingly tenuous.
Coman squandered another opening when he was played in on the Persepolis goal and Al Gharafa captain Ferjani Sassi had a long-range attempt deflected wide before Joselu’s weak effort was gathered by Guendouz, dropping to his left.
Brahimi was denied four minutes from time by Guendouz while Rico was called upon to make a reflex save deep into injury time from Persepolis substitute Lucas Joao in a frantic but fruitless finish.