DOHA: Midfielder Romarinho Ricardo struck twice as El Jaish shrugged off their Emir Cup woes and took sweet revenge with a convincing win against Lekhwiya by 4-0 in their AFC Champions League Round of 16 match, played at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium yesterday.
Half time scores read 2-0 in favour of victorious El Jaish.
Following their 2-1 defeat to Lekhwiya in the Emir Cup semifinals, El Jaish looked confident from the first whistle itself yesterday.
Romarinho gave them the perfect start in the 17th minute. Romarinho hit the goal post with his first strike but tucked home the rebound to make it 1-0.
Abderrazzaq Hamdallah doubled the deficit in the 44th minute with a perfect hit into the net.
Mohamed Abdullah Methnani continued the momentum with a perfect header, picking up from a corner-kick to make it 3-0 for El jaish.
Then, with only four minutes remaining, Romarinho put icing on their cake with his second goal of the day, beating the Lekhwiya goalkeeper and two of their defenders, just few feet away from the goal.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, a superb brace by Kota Mizunuma rocked Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Shanghai SIPG as they lost 2-1 to FC Tokyo.
Mizunuma’s cheeky free kick routine put the hosts ahead just before half-time and he volleyed a stunning winner on 65 minutes, after Wu Lei had briefly put SIPG level.
The victory leaves FC Tokyo dreaming of their first Champions League quarter-final, while SIPG are up against it in next week’s return leg in Shanghai.
Elsewhere, a brilliant Leonardo free kick earned 2006 champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors a 1-1 away draw against Melbourne Victory.
Melbourne went ahead through Besart Berisha’s header in the fifth minute, only for Leonardo to equalise with his free-kick eight minutes later.
It was an emotional night for veteran Victory striker Archie Thompson, who was given a standing ovation as he was substituted in his final home match after 261 appearances and 101 goals for the club.
The Peninsula
