Al Wasl turned its delay against Al Jazira from one goal to nothing into a 2-1 victory, in the conclusion of the twenty-fifth round of the ADNOC Pro League.
Al Wasl entered the match with a lineup that included Mohamed Al Wali in goal, and in front of him in defense Pedro Malheiro, Adryelson Silva, Gabriel dos Santos and Hugo Neto, while the midfield included Ali Saleh, Nicolas Gimenez, Malek Junaier, Siaka Sidibe and Brahian Palacios, while Miguel Borja led the attack line.
Al Wasl began the match with a clear desire to reach Al Jazira’s net, as Brahian Palacios fired a powerful shot in the third minute that was saved by Al Jazira goalkeeper Stojan Lekovic. The yellow team continued its attacking pressure, and Miguel Borja almost opened the scoring in the twenty-seventh minute after Hugo Neto delivered a dangerous cross inside the penalty area, but Al Jazira’s defense cleared it.
Against the run of play, Al Jazira managed to open the scoring in the thirty-sixth minute through Nabil Fekir, and Al Wasl tried to equalize through several attacking attempts, but they did not result in an equalizing goal before the end of the first half.
In the second half, head coach Rui Vitoria sought to activate the attacking side by making several substitutions, as he brought on Renato Tapia, Serginho and Renato Junior as substitutes for Malek Janeer, Brahian Palacios and Miguel Borja, while Fabio Lima came on as a substitute for Nicolas Gimenez, and Rodrigo Oliveira replaced Ali Saleh.
Al Wasl continued its attacking pressure searching for the equalizer, and Nicolas Gimenez came close to scoring in the fifty-fourth minute after receiving a set-piece delivered by Palacios, but his shot went wide of the post.
Al Wasl’s attempts resulted in the equalizing goal in the sixty-fourth minute, after a quick attack that started with a precise cross from Serginho to Ali Saleh, who prepared the ball for Renato Junior, whose shot rebounded from Al Jazira’s goalkeeper and reached Siaka Sidibe, who placed it into the net with a powerful left-footed strike, scoring the equalizer for Al Wasl. Sidibe almost scored the second goal for Al Wasl in the seventy-first minute after exchanging passes with Renato Junior, but he was unsuccessful.
Al Wasl snatched the winning goal in the eighty-ninth minute after an attack started by Siaka Sidibe and a pass to Serginho, who delivered the decisive ball on a golden plate to Fabio Lima, who finished it brilliantly into Al Jazira’s net, allowing Al Wasl to take sole possession of third place in the league standings with 45 points.