Al duhail: Al Duhail secured their first win after defeating Shabab Al Ahli 4-1 in their AFC Champions League Elite 2025/26 tie at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium on Monday.
According to Qatar News Agency, it was a stunning victory as UAE's Shabab Al Ahli had come into the tie very much in form, having accumulated seven points from their earlier matches while Al Duhail had only managed a draw from their preceding games. Al Duhail survived an early blunder when Federico Cartabia pounced on Bogdan Planic's stray pass to find Sultan Adil but keeper Bautista Burke came to the rescue, denying the forward inside the opening minute.
Luis Alberto turned the tables on Shabab Al Ahli a minute later when he threaded a sublime pass to Edmlson Junior on the left flank with the Brazilian cutting inside before unleashing a rasping shot, touching the fingertips of keeper Hamad Al Meqbaali before nestling into the bottom right corner. The Qatari outfit thought they had a penalty in the fourth minute following Benjamin Bourigeaud's apparent handball inside the area but the decision was ruled out for a free-kick at the edge of the box, which Cartabia sent wide.
Al Duhail continued to dominate, coming agonisingly close when Krzysztof Piatek struck the post after a clever exchange with Marco Verratti. Their pressure paid off in the 39th minute when Benjamin Bourigeaud had the time and space to send a curling effort from just above the box past Al Meqbaali off Edmilson's corner. Shabab Al Ahli refused to give up and reduced the deficit three minutes later with Breno Cascardo converting Cartabia's corner with a glancing header.
Shabab Al Ahli started the second half brightly, with Guilherme Bala firing narrowly wide from distance in the 52nd minute, while Yuri Cesar saw his close-range effort blocked following a period of sustained pressure. Al Duhail, however, put the brakes on Shabab Al Ahli's momentum in the 57th minute with Adil Boulbina latching on to Benjamin Bourigeaud's cutback and rifling his shot into the corner.
Shabab Al Ahli escaped going further behind in the 65th minute when Al Meqbaali was forced to tip over Bourigeaud's effort from just above the box before the shot stopper guessed the right way to deny Piatek from the spot after Mateus Henrique conceded a penalty for bringing down Edmlson. The Emiratis threatened through Kauan Santos in the 76th minute, who saw his stinging free-kick palmed away by Burke while at the other end, Al Meqbaali was kept on his toes, denying Luis Alberto from distance.
Boulbina was denied his second after hitting the left post in the 79th minute with Al Duhail completing the emphatic win through Luis Alberto's strike in stoppage time.