Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Doha: Coach Lhoussaine Ammouta conceded that his Al Sadd side had gone close to suffering a shock elimination from the AFC Champions League play-offs as they scraped past Riffa 11-10 on penalties following a 0-0 draw after extra-time in Tuesday’s Preliminary Round.
The 2011 ACL winners, who are seeking a 10th appearance in the AFC Champions League, were held goalless for 120 minutes by the Bahraini champions who have not yet participated in the continental championship group stages and Ammouta’s side were indebted to goalkeeper of Saad Al Sheeb who saved Riffa defender Ozeia’s spot-kick after Khalfan Ibrahim had put Al Sadd 11-10 up in the penalty shootout.
Al Sadd, who also reached the quarter-finals of last year’s tournament before losing to eventual runners-up Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, will now travel to the United Arab Emirates next Tuesday to face Al Wahda at Al Nahyan Stadium in Abu Dhabi for a place in Group A of the AFC Champions League.
“We nearly lost tonight and were close to being out of the competition. Our victory was very hard in a penalty shootout and we faced a lot of difficulties in the match as our opponents caused a lot of problems for us,” said Al Sadd coach Ammouta.
“The scenario of the match was very difficult but we managed to get past this obstacle via the penalty shootout.
“I wish that we can get out of our current situation and hopefully that we can be ready for the next match which will be also very hard.”
Defeated opponents Riffa, meanwhile, will now participate in the AFC Cup competition and enter Group D where they will face Kuwait SC, Al Nejmeh of Lebanon and the winner of next Tuesday’s match between Al Jaish of Syria and Palestinian club Hilal Al Quds.
And Riffa’s coach, Jose Garrido, believes the performance his players put in against Al Sadd can put them in good stead for this next continental campaign.
“We had a big match tonight against Al Sadd and we were good throughout the regular and the extra times. However, in the penalty shootouts things were not in our favour after a long and exciting scenario,” said Riffa coach Garrido.
“We were not lucky in the match as we missed several scoring chances and also in the penalty shootouts.
“We played very well and we were not afraid of Al Sadd and their players and hopefully this experience will be positive for us.”
Photo: WSG