Al Jazira 2:3 Shabab Al Ahli. ADNOC Pro League. Match Report

uaeproleague.ae: Mar. 11, 2023

Shabab Al Ahli staged a thrilling comeback to beat Al Jazira 3-2 and returned to the top of the ADNOC Pro League's table on Saturday.

Al Jazira went ahead after 19 minutes when Ali Mabkhout ran onto Khalfan Mubarak's pass, only to be upended by defender Mohammed Marzooq Abdulla. Referee Ahmed Salim Khalfan pointed to the spot following a VAR check.

Ali Mabkhout took the spot-kick himself, calmly sending Hassan Hamza Ali the wrong way to break the deadlock.

Mamadou Coulibaly smashed in a superb long-range strike to double the hosts' lead in the 31st minute.

The Dubai-based side started the second half as a completely different team when Omar Khribin reduced the deficit two minutes after the break with a clinical finish from close range after being set up by Yousef Jaber Naser.

Eleven minutes after the hour-mark, Omar Khribin turned from a scorer to a provider after setting up Yahya AlGhassani inside the box as the latter chipped the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net to make it 2-2.

Federico Cartabia completed the dramatic comeback for the visitors from the spot after stepping up and stroking the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

The result means that Shabab Al Ahli sits first with 42 points, while Al Jazira is sixth with 33 points.