Shabab come from behind to stun Al Ahli

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  • Perfect debut: Luvannor (r) got on to the scoresheet for Al Shabab in his first game for the club yesterday.

    Al Shabab boss Caio Junior dubbed his side’s 4-2 comeback victory over Al Ahli at the Rashid Stadium last night a “historic” win and is confident his men can fight for the Arabian Gulf League title this season.

    Shabab scored four consecutive second-half goals within 22 minutes to come back and stun the reigning champions in a thrilling Deira Derby at Ahli’s home ground.

    A slow opening half saw Ahli take a 1-0 lead through a controversial Ahmed Khalil goal. The hosts then added a second right after the break through Humaid Abbas.

    But Shabab’s new signing Henrique Luvannor enjoyed a perfect debut by netting twice to help guide his team to an unbelievable victory against the reigning champions.

    “Four goals… this is history. Just fantastic,” said an elated Caio Junior. “I feel very, very good bec-ause I felt that we played like one team, with lots of power and lots of energy. I believe we’ll have a good season.”

    While Ahli entered the clash coming off a tight 1-0 victory over Sharjah last week, for Shabab, last night’s encounter was their season opener after their first round match against Al Ain was postponed due to the Boss’ involvement in the AFC Champions League semi-final.

    Ciel’s broken ankle meant that Hugo Viana was back in the Ahli squad, starting from the bench.

    Ahli were in complete control early on and went in front in the 18th minute when a Luis Jimenez free kick found Khalil, who confidently tapped home.

    It proved a questionable goal though after replays showed that Khalil and two more Ahli players were offside.

    Shabab were the last team to defeat Ahli on their home ground, having beaten the AGL champions 3-2 at the Rashid Stadium over two years ago. But they seemed nowhere near a repeat in the opening half last night.

    Just after the break, Khalil set up Abbas in the box and the midfielder’s left-footed finish sailed past Salem Abdulla to double Ahli’s lead.

    But Shabab responded almost immediately, when on 55 minutes Edgar Bruno headed over to set up an advancing Mohammed Marzooq, and the defender made no mistake when finishing from close range.

    And soon after, new boy Luvannor equalised for the visitors seven minutes later, nodding home a Villanueva corner kick.

    Shabab then snatched the lead with their third goal inside an 11-minute period. Haydarov lobbed the perfect free kick over the box and Mohammed Ali Ayed headed into the net to stun the home crowd.

    Ahli couldn’t stop the bleeding and Shabab compounded their misery with a fourth, Luvannor’s second of the night.
    Substitute Abdulla Faraj crossed over to the Brazilian-Moldovan, whose sliding effort deflected off Ahmed Mahmoud’s hands and found the back of the net.

    “What can I say about this kind of game?” Ahli manager Cosmin Olaroiu asked. 

    “For 50 minutes, we didn’t give Shabab the chance to come near our goal. Then after that, we received three goals from set pieces. We lost our concentration. We made a lot of mistakes.

    “It’s a tough loss especially with the kind of goals that we received. We took a lesson today, it’s important to learn from this,” he added.

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