QNB Stars League: Bounedjah and Cazorla score as Al-Sadd overcome Umm Salal

Al-Sadd registered another victory in the QNB Stars League on Wednesday, overcoming Umm Salal 2-0 in the Round 18 game that was played at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium. Baghdad Bounedjah and Santi Cazorla got the goals for Al-Sadd.

The result took the Wolves’ points tally to 46 from 16 games, with two postponed fixtures against Qatar SC and Al-Rayyan yet to be played.

Bounedjah broke the deadlock in the 15th minute, scoring from outside the penalty box after a mistake from the Umm Salal defence. The Algerian international had another chance to score in the 35th minute, but his header, off a cross from Hassan Al-Haydos, went straight into the hands of Umm Salal keeper Khalifa Abubakar.

The first half ended with the lone goal and after the restart, Al-Sadd came out looking to add to their lead. Coach Javi Gracia was forced into a substitution in the 53rd minute, when Guilherme came off injured; he was replaced by Rodrigo Tabata.

Umm Salal carved up a few opportunities of their own in the second half, but Al-Sadd managed to keep them at bay, and continued to hold on to their lead. Gracia sent on Khoukhi Boualem as his second substitute, before making two changes at once towards the end of the game, as Yousuf Abdurisag and Musaab Khidir entered the field.

It was substitute Yousuf Abdurisag who would go on to create the second goal, threading a pass towards the edge of the box for Cazorla, whose first-time shot went in off the post in the second minute of stoppage time.

MATCH DETAILS

Al-Sadd x Umm Salal (QNB Stars League Round 18)

Venue

Jassim bin Hamad Stadium

Lineups

Al-Sadd: Saad Al-Dosari, Pedro Miguel, Abdelkarim Hassan (Musaab Khidir), Jung Woo-young, Tarek Salman, Ali Asad, Hassan Al-Haydos (Khoukhi Boualem), Baghdad Bounedjah, Guilherme Torres (Rodrigo Tabata), Santi Cazorla, Andre Ayew (Yousuf Abdurisag)

Umm Salal: Khalifa Abubakar, Omar Yahya, Ismail Dahqani, Abdulrahman Abkar, Moses Orkuma, Adel Alawi, Isael Barbosa, Khaled Abdulrauf, Sayed Hassan, Yaseen Bakheet, Abdulrahman Al-Rasheedi

Result

Al-Sadd won 2-0

Goals

Baghdad Bounedjah 15′
Santi Cazorla 90+2′

Bookings

Omar Yahya 4′
Ali Asad 74′
Abdelkarim Hassan 79′

Referees

Saoud Al-Athba (main referee)
Jumuah Burshid (assistant 1)
Hamad Al Ejji (assistant 2)
Khaled Nabit (fourth official)