Xavi inspires Al Sadd to big win over Eto’o-led Qatar SC
Doha: The QNB Stars League fixture between highflying Al Sadd and struggling Qatar Sports Club was not expected to be an edge-of-the-seat thriller, but it had an interesting side plot of being a matchup of two ex-Barcelona stars – Xavi Hernandez and Samuel Eto’o.
While Xavi spent all his career at Barca before leaving for Qatar, Eto’o was with the Catalan giants for five years starting from 2004.
Though Eto’o added another cracking goal to his career total despite being anonymous for the most part of the game, Xavi and co were in cruise control and still managed to score a 5-1 victory.
The win helped Sadd, with 16 points, regained the top spot from Duhail on goal difference.
At 38, Xavi is in the twilight of his career, but he was effortlessly gliding on the perfectly laid pitch of Qatar Sports Club stadium, orchestrating all of Al Sadd moves, anticipating the runs and moves of his teammates and providing them inch-perfect passes, on Thursday.
He was thoroughly enjoying himself and was even in the mood for the odd nutmeg on a hapless Qatar SC defender and capped his performance with a trademark freekick goal in the 58th, by which time Sadd had run away with the match.
The Wolves opened the scoring in the 13th minute through Hamad Ismael and Xavi had a hand in that one as well.
The Spanish maestro’s freekick hit the Qatar SC wall and Ismael was on hand to blast home the rebound.
Bounedjah missed a chance to increase the lead in the 15th but five minutes later he made it 2-0 by emphatically volleying Akram Afif’s cross into the net.
Afif, Ali Asad and Bounedjah all missed chances as Sadd toyed with the Qatar SC defence and it was just a matter of time before Qatar SC conceded again. The third goal came in the 29th minute.
Xavi took advantage of sloppy defensive play and found Afif with a first time ball. The Qatar international just had to reach the ball before Qatar SC goalkeeper Jassim Adel and toe poke it into an empty net.
As Xavi controlled the pace and flow of the game for Sadd, Eto’o was having another miserable outing until he found a piece of old magic in his right boot.
The match was in the 40th minute when Eto’o found a looping ball inside Sadd box after an attempted defensive clearance and the three-time Champions League winner met it with a sweetly-timed volley that beat Meshaal Barshim all ends up.
Etoo again tested Meshaal twice in a matter of seconds in the first half added time, but the young Sadd keeper stood up to the challenge, flying to his right to save the first shot and then narrowing the angle to stop the Cameroonian from having a clear view at goal.
Sadd had a chance to increase the lead right at the start of the second half but Bounedjah’s penalty, awarded for Omar Ahmed’s foul on Ali Asad, was uncharacteristically aimless.
The scoreline could have been even more embarrassing for Qatar SC had Jassim Adel not come up with a host of crucial saves including a point-blank stop to deny Bounedjah’s header.
However, he had no answer to Xavi’s 58th-minute freekick after Bounedjah was fouled just outside the box and was helpless once again as Ahmed Sayyar, who replaced Xavi in the 77th, rolled the ball into the net with the last kick of the game.
