FOOTBALL – BAHRAIN’S Riffa registered a resounding 4-1 victory over Qatar SC of Qatar last night in the 2026-27 Gulf Club Champions League.
Ali Saeed posted a brace in the first half to help spearhead the Bahrainis to the convincing outcome at Khalifa Sports City Stadium in Isa Town. Algerian Tayeb Meziani and Wellington Moreira supplied their other goals.
With the result, Riffa claimed their first win of the 12-team tournament, where they are playing in Group B in the preliminary round. They did well to bounce back from a 0-3 defeat against Al Nasr of the UAE in their opening fixture held earlier this month in Dubai.
In attendance during last night’s affair were Bahrain Olympic Committee vice-president Shaikh Isa bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Bahrain Football Association vice-president Shaikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Isa Al Khalifa, General Sports Authority CEO Dr Abdulrahman Askar, and other high-ranking officials.
Riffa are the kingdom’s lone representatives in this year’s expanded Gulf Football Federation tournament.
Also in their pool are Al Zawraa of Iraq, whom Riffa face in their next assignment away on Tuesday next week.
Group A in the championship features Neom SC from Saudi Arabia, Al Duhail SC from Qatar, Al Shabab SC from Oman, and Shaab Hadramaut SC from Yemen; while Group C is composed of Al Ettifaq SC of Saudi, Ajman SC of the UAE, Erbil SC from Iraq, and Kazma SC from Kuwait.
Fixtures in this stage of the tournament are being held in home-and-away format. Following the preliminaries, the top two teams from each of the three groups will advance to the quarter-finals, together with the two best third-placed sides, with all ties to be contested over two legs.
Saeed gave Riffa a dream start in last night’s affair after firing in just 20 seconds after kick-off. He was gifted a surprise opportunity after Qatar goalkeeper Sataa Al Abbasi made a mistake with a pass in his own penalty box. He inadvertently delivered the ball to Komail Al Aswad, who then set up Saeed for his strike inside the area. The visitors were then back on level terms in the 12th minute when Sebastian Soria Quintana netted from the face of goal. He tapped in following a wayward shot from teammate Yasen Lafrid.
But Saeed put the Bahrainis back in front five minutes from the half to complete his brace.
He scored from nearly the same spot as his first goal, with teammate Sayed Redha Issa this time supplying the assist.
After the re-start, Meziani needed just two minutes to add Riffa’s third. He fired in from close range after pouncing on a pass by Al Aswad from the right which was deflected by Al Abbasi.
Moreira was then on target in the 56th minute to make it 4-1. He sent the ball home from off a pass from Brazilian teammate Cleiton Camar Dos Anjos Silva.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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