Dubai: Tournament favourites Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven and Flamengo secured contrasting wins, while Borussia Dortmund dropped points to Al Nasr Dubai in their opening round matches of the Eighth Hamdan Bin Mohammad U16 International Football Championships.
Being played at the Dubai Police Officers ground, Spanish giants Real Madrid and Brazil’s Flamengo were off to flying starts with huge wins against UAE champions Shabab Al Ahli Dubai Club and Al Wasl respectively, while PSV did just enough for full points against Al Ahli of Egypt even as gutsy Al Nasr split points with German side Dortmund in the four matches of the two groups held so far.
With first team coach Zinedine Zidane’s son Theo in their ranks, Real Madrid scored twice in each half for a 4-0 thrashing of the UAE champions, while Flamengo took off with an equally emphatic 5-1 result against Al Wasl. Dutch team PSV secured full points following a hard-fought 2-1 win against Cairo-based Al Ahli, while Dubai’s Al Nasr was the only UAE team giving a good account of themselves by denying the mighty Borussia Dortmund through 90 minutes of play.
Much of the attention was on Real Madrid’s match against the champions of the UAE due to the presence of Zidane’s third son Theo trying to match his dad’s role of attacking midfielder. After waiting patiently, the Spaniards opened the scoring in the 36th minute with Peter Gonzalez rounding off the goalkeeper. Real doubled the score in the 43rd minute after Paulo Lubamba found the back of the net.
Carles Llario Mascardo made it 3-0 five minutes into the second half, while substitute Pablo Suarez completed the scoring in the 85th minute to bag full points for the Spaniards. “The first match is always tough. We took time to settle in and I didn’t want to push the boys too much and finally their patience paid off,” Real Madrid coach Tristan Celador told Gulf News.
“Our defence had to contend with some very quick attackers from Shabab Al Ahli, but in the end we were able to keep them from scoring. I am happy with the three points and we will improve in the next game,” he added.
Shabab Al Ahli Dubai coach Adel Saeed, who took up coaching after having his playing career cut short due to a troublesome knee, promised a better show from the UAE champions. “It’s a quality team like Real Madrid and we struggled to find answers,” he admitted.
“I am sure we will go back to the drawing board and see how best we can improve as a team what can play and even win against some of these quality teams here,” the 32-year-old added.
Results
(Group A) PSV Eindhoven x Al Ahli Egypt 2-1; Flamengo Brazil x Al Wasl, Dubai 5-1
(Group B) Real Madrid x Shabab Al Ahli Dubai 4-0; Al Nasr x Borussia Dortmund 0-0
