Al Shahaniya's Edu Eduardo Santos (left) vies for the ball possession against Al Sadd's Pedro during their Qatar Stars League match played at Grand Hamad Stadium
Captain Xavi Hernandez lead from the front as former champions Al Sadd yesterday crushed Al Shahaniya 4-0 at Grand Hamad Stadium.
Baghdad Bounedjah (6 and 78), Xavi (36) and Ali Asad (69) scored the four goals for Al Sadd who dominated from the first minute.
After snapping pictures with fans on his way into the Grand Hamad Stadium, Barca legend and Al Sadd Xavi skipper got down to business end of things the moment the referee blew the whistle at kick-off time.
In the 4th minute, the eagle-eyed Xavi spotted Abdulkareem Hassan on the left flank and chipped in a long ball. The Qatar under-23 skipper slipped a low ball but Al Shahanhiya goalkeeper pounced the shot to thwart the early danger.
A couple of minutes later, Al Shahaniya goalkeeper Khalifa Nasser Al Dosari committed a schoolboy error and brought down Al Sadd's Bounedjah inside his own box.
Referee Abdulrahman I Al-Jassim quickly pointed to the spot kick and Bounedjah easily converted the penalty to give the former champions the lead in the 6th minute.
In the 15th minute, Xavi missed an open-goal opportunity as he fired wide from about five meters from the goal-line inside the Al Shahaniya box.
Retaining his team's early momentum, Xavi curled in a beautiful ball for Bounedjah - who successfully produced a snap-header into the Al Shahaniya net - but the linesman declared the effort as off-side in the 18th minute.
Showing food form, Xavi produced a long-range missile but his well-taken shot was parried away by goalkeeper Al Dosari in the 20th minute.
Three minutes later, Al Dosari produced another spectacular punching effort when Ibrahim Majed curled in a beautifully taken free-kick.
A minute later, Xavi once again fired a curling ball towards the Al Shahaniya net but goalkeeper Al Dosari flicked the ball above the crossbar with a diving effort.
Nine minutes from the first half, Al Sadd doubled their lead.
Hassan, despite being shadowed by an Al Shahaniya defender, slipped in a neat ball to Xavi who took first-time aim at the goal and scored his side's second goal with relative calm.
After dominating the first half, Al Sadd added two more goals in the second half.
Asad scored in the 69th minute while Bounedjah scored his second in the 78th minute as Al Sadd picked up three points from the round six clash.
