DOHA: The first win of the season on Saturday finally brought a smile to the faces of Lekhwiya fans but coach Djamel Belmadi seeks improvement from round three onwards.
On Saturday, Lekhwiya opened their Qatar Stars League (QSL) season with 3-1 win over Qatar SC but the QSL champions have had a tough period of three weeks.
Belmadi, after taking over as Lekhwiya side in July, saw his side fail to cross the quarter-finals stage in the AFC Champions League last week.
Lekhwiya lost the first leg to regional giants Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia at the end of August before the side managed a draw in the second leg last week.
“This win comes after we lost our chance at the AFC Champions League semi-finals,” Belmadi said following his side’s 3-1 win on Saturday.
“And then we faced a team (Qatar SC) who are a well organised set-up in football terms,” Belmadi said. “They are a strong unit and play strong up front,” Belmadi said.
“They caused us a lot of trouble as they counter-attacked really well,” he said. “Even then we managed a good win in our first match,” the former Qatar coach added.
The first goal came on the half hour mark and was against the run of play when a lucky deflection found its way to Qatar SC’s Mohammed Omar who drilled a low shot into the bottom left corner from just outside the area.
Lekhwiya didn’t take long to respond when just 10 minutes later they were awarded a freekick; Nam Tae-Hee took it early, sending it to wingback Khalid Muftah who was fouled on the very edge of the box.
Yussef Msakni stepped up, sent the keeper the wrong way and calmly slotted the ball into the top left corner.
Substitute Vladimir Weiss scored the vital second goal in the 81st minute.
Msakni put the game beyond doubt when he went on a fantastic solo effort across the face of goal from the left. The forward went past four defenders before send the ball back across the face of goal for Lekhwiya’s third and best goal of the night.
“I would say it wasn’t a clean performance as we had errors in the defence,” Belmadi said.
“But my players were able to correct their mistakes on the pitch and during the match. Hopefully in the coming matches, we will deal with all these errors,” Belmadi said.
The Lekhwiya coach dismissed the notion that his side would press the panic button.
“We are still at the beginning of the season and I am sure we can refocus quickly and play aggressively,” Belmadi said.
Meanwhile, it was a good week for Al Rayyan and Al Arabi as the two ‘forgotten sides’ kept their slate clean for the second successive week.
Point toppers Al Rayyan beat Al Kharaitiyat 2-1 while second-placed Al Arabi - now coached by Gianfranco Zola - registered their second win of the season as they defeated Al Khor by a solitary goal at the Grand Hamad Stadium.
Striker Yousef Ahmed scored the only goal of the match to secure three valuable points for Arabi.
For title aspirants Al Sadd, it was a sluggish show this week as the Doha giants dropped points against Umm Salal in a 2-2 draw.
New signing Xavi scored one of the two goals as Al Sadd were held to a draw at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Fourth-placed El Jaish beat struggling Al Sailiyah 4-1 following their first week’s stutter against Al Ahli that ended in a 1-1 draw. In a strange twist of fate, Al Wakrah, Qatar SC, Al Khor, Mesaimeer and Al Sailiyah are yet to open their accounts after two QSL rounds so far.
Round three commences on September 25 and ends the next day, QSL announced yesterday.
The Peninsula
