Al Nasr end 25-year wait for GCC Champions League victory
Blue Wave beat Oman's Saham 2-1 in Monday's GCC Champions League final
Dubai: Al Nasr ended a 25-year wait for major silverware with a 2-1 win at home to Oman’s Saham in the final of the GCC Champions League on Monday.
Goals either half from Ebrahima Toure and Leo Lima secured the Blue Wave their first title since the 1989 President’s Cup. Saham’s Brahima Diakite pulled one back late in the game but Al Nasr were able to hold on for an historic victory.
Toure put Al Nasr ahead before the half hour when he pounced on a defensive mix up between centre-back Vinicius Da Silva and goalkeeper Sulaiman Al Buraiki to blast Mahmoud Al Hammadi’s cross into an empty net.
Da Silva’s infamy then doubled just after the hour when he brought down Al Hammadi in the box before Lima converted from the spot.
Saham pulled one back with ten minutes to spare when Diakite got a foot to Mohsin Al Khaldi’s diagonal free kick into the box, but Al Nasr were able to hold on to their narrow lead.
UAE clubs have now won the GCC Champions League on seven occasions, and five of these wins have come in the last seven years.
This was Al Nasr’s first win in the tournament in only their second appearance. The Blue Wave last competed in 1987, when they finished fourth in a five-team round-robin.
Saham, meanwhile, were bidding to become only the second Omani team to win the competition since Fanja in 1989, but failed despite an admirable performance.
In an interesting development off the pitch former Italy goalkeeper and Al Nasr coach Walter Zenga was seen talking in the stands with former Chelsea and Romania defender Dan Petrescu.
Petrescu was in talks to take over from Zenga at Al Nasr before incumbent coach Ivan Jovanovic joined last summer.
At the time Petrescu couldn’t join because he was under contract with Russia’s Dynamo Moscow, however, Petrescu left Dynamo by mutual consent last month and is now a free agent. Petrescu’s appearance in the stands will likely cast doubts over Jovanovic’ future, despite the fact the Serbian has finally broken the club’s 25-year hoodoo.
