Dubai: Newly crowned GCC Champions League winners Al Shabab will hardly get any time to celebrate Wednesday night’s success as they focus on their UAE President’s Cup semi-final against Dubai rivals Al Nasr on Saturday.
Goalkeeper Salem Abdullah was the unlikely hero for Al Shabab — who won the regional club tournament for the third time — as he made two penalty saves in his side’s 4-3 shoot-out victory over Oman’s Al Seeb in Muscat.
Earlier, man of the match Henrique Luvannor had put the visitors ahead in the 83rd minute, when he collected a through ball from skipper Carlos Villanueva and fired home. But Haitham Al Maharami got Al Seeb level when he scored in the third minute of injury time to send the match to penalties.
Abdullah kept out the Omanis’ second and third spot-kicks, ensuring a miss by Mohammad Marzouk did not matter as Al Shabab won the shoot-out.
Al Shabab had previously won the GCC Champions League in 1992 and 2011.
However, the Dubai club will have hardly any time to take in their achievement as they switch their attention to their President’s Cup semi-final at the Al Maktoum Stadium against Al Nasr on Saturday. The team travelled back to Dubai early on Thursday and had a recovery session later in the evening.
“We hardly have any time to think about what we have achieved. The next goal is the semi-finals and we need to switch off and concentrate for our match against Al Nasr,” coach Caio Junior told Gulf News.
Al Shabab and Al Nasr have already met each other five times during the course of this season. Of the two times they faced off in the Arabian Gulf League, Al Shabab won 2-1 at home and then drew 1-1 away at the Al Maktoum Stadium.
But Al Nasr avenged these results as they beat the side from Al Mamzar 2-0 as they powered their way to clinching the Arabian Gulf Cup title.
And in the two-legged semi-finals of the GCC Champions League, Al Shabab drew 1-1 away and then beat their rivals 2-0 at home to earn the right to meet Al Seeb in Wednesday’s finale.
“Honestly, at this stage these results mean nothing to us. We just need to switch our thinking. We have another very important match against a rival who we know and we need to go out there and win,” Caio said.
