Shabab Al Ahli demolished Sharjah 6-2 at Al Maktoum stadium on Friday to claim the UAE Super Cup for the sixth time in their history.
Ousmane Camara found the breakthrough and broke the deadlock after eight minutes when the Guinean player fired a powerful effort into the back of the net.
Camara became the first Guinean player to score in the Super Cup and the second youngest player to score, aged 22 years,11 months, and six days after Rashid Omar, who netted against Al Ain in 2015 at the age of 19 years, eight months and nine days.
Camara turned from a scorer to a provider as his excellent cross was met by Moussa Marega’s header to cement Sharjah’s lead in the 26th minute.
The turning point of the game came in the 34th minute when Abdelaziz Salim Ali Salim was sent off due to a handball as Shabab Al Ahli were awarded a penalty kick.
Federico Cartabia stepped up and sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to reduce the deficit for the Dubai-based side in the 36th minute.
Seven minutes later, Cartabia lashed in a first-time effort from inside the box past the goalkeeper to restore the parity for Shabab Al Ahli.
The Dubai-based side completed the comeback in the stoppage time of the first half when Yahya AlGhassani picked up the ball inside the box before sending a swerving effort into the left corner of the net. Shabab Al Ahli have high number of goals in the UAE Super Cup with 11 goals.
Eight minutes after the hour-mark, Mateus Lima’s clinical finish from a close range added the fourth goal for Shabab Al Ahli.
Shabab Al Ahli maintained their dominance for the game as a brilliant counter-attack ended with Harib Abdalla Suhail adding the fifth goal in the 79th minute.
Yuri Cesar capatalized on a mis-placed pass from Sharjah defence to go on a one-to-one position before firing a powerful effort into the back of the net in the 88th minute.
29 DEC 2023