Al Wahda 1 Al Ahli 2
Wahda: (Dzsudzsak 75)
Ahli: (Diop 4, Ribeiro 81)
Al Jazira’s Arabian Gulf League title celebrations will have to wait after Al Ahli defeated Al Wahda 2-1 on Saturday evening to keep their slim hopes alive.
Jazira’s 3-0 win over Al Shabab on Friday meant the Abu Dhabi club temporarily led Ahli by 11 points with three games of the season remaining.
Therefore Ahli needed nothing less than victory at Al Nahyan Stadium, and the reigning champions — at least for another two weeks — duly delivered.
Makhete Diop opened the scoring inside the first five minutes when defender Walid Abbas found the Senegalese striker with a long-range pass. Diop then beat his marker before finishing with a left-footed shot beyond Wahda goalkeeper Ali Al Hosani for his 18th goal of the season.
Ahli maintained their lead until the 75th minute when Hungary international Balazs Dzsudzsak came off the bench to curl home Ismail Matar’s laid-off pass.
Parity only lasted six minutes as Brazilian playmaker Everton Ribeiro showed his class, lashing home the winner from the edge of the area.
With the gap between Jazira and Ahli returning to eight points, the Dubai club live to fight another day, although they need to win all three remaining fixtures and hope Jazira lose all of theirs to retain their title.
Elsewhere, four goals from Yassine Salhi earned Al Dhafra a 5-0 win over Dibba at the Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium. Abdulla Aljaberi added the fifth in the 90th minute.
* The National staff
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