Al Wahda – 3 (Matar 26, Rim 88, Tagliabue 90+1) // Baniyas – 0
Man of the match – Ismail Matar (Al Wahda)
ABU DHABI // Al Wahda fulfilled their end-of-season objective by claiming a top-four finish in the Arabian Gulf League and passage to next year's Asian Champions League play-off.
They emerged as resounding 3-0 winners over Baniyas in their final match last night at the Al Nahyan Stadium, a result that saw them claim third in the table behind champions Al Ahli and runners-up Al Ain.
“We got a bit lucky towards the end of the league as some of our closest challengers for the top four spot lost some points after we lost some in a critical stage of the league,” Wahda manager Javier Aguirre said.
“Tonight we created a lot of scoring chances and had we taken those, we may have won more convincingly than struggle until late in the match.
“It wasn’t a good game for us, but then these things are not uncommon in football.
“At the end, however, it was the result that mattered. We will continue training until the 20th to select potential players for next season.”
Aguirre, who was given a contract extension until the end of next season, led Wahda to the Arabian Gulf Cup.
“Of course, I am happy with the team’s achievements this season,” the Mexican said when asked on his first season at the club.
“We won a trophy and to take third place in the league was quite a satisfying result.
“It was an objective we had from the beginning of the season. I’m also glad for Sebastian Tagliabue, as he finished as the league’s top scorer.”
Ismail Matar opened the scoring on 26 minutes, but Wahda had to wait until the last two minutes to take the game to safety with strikes from Rim Chang-woo and Tagliabue, the latter’s 25th goal in 24 league games.
Baniyas manager Abdullah Misfir experimented with most of his fringe players and some youngsters in a match where the result did not matter for a team placed in mid-table.
“We allowed the youngsters to play in this game and they really pushed Wahda hard for a major part of the match,” the Emirati said. “This was an opportunity for the local players to show their potential for next season. I wanted to support these players by providing them a game against Wahda. We will now focus on our President’s Cup quarter-finals.”
Elsewhere, Al Nasr took fourth place after a 3-1 result over Fujairah, who joined Al Shaab in losing the relegation fight, after a valiant effort that kept their slim hopes alive until the final round with victories over Al Jazira and Al Ain in their previous two games.
Jires Kembo-Ekoko struck twice in four minutes but Fujairah clawed back to reduce the lead through Hassan Maatouk. But whatever hopes they had of a comeback were dashed when Luis Jimenez regained the two-goal cushion seven minutes from time.
In the other games, Ali Mabkhout socerd his 22nd goal in as many league games, to lead Al Jazira to a 1-0 win over Al Dhafra and Al Shabab edged out Al Wasl by the same margin, courtesy Naser Masood in the 71st minute.
Al Ain were held to a scoreless result by Emirates and Dibba and Sharjah, too, played out a 0-0 stalemate.
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