Sharjah and Ittihad Kalba players in action during their Adnoc Pro League match.

Gulf Today Report

Bernard Duarte scored a late winner as Sharjah eked out a late 1-0 victory over Ittihad Kalba at Sharjah Stadium in the opening matchweek of the Pro League campaign.

Sharjah had the upper hand but couldn’t carve out real goal-scoring chances, while their keeper Adel Al Hosani was called into action a few times.

Deep into injury time, Bernard launched a counterattack and went one-on-one with Ittihad Kalba keeper Jamal Abdulla before firing home to hand Sharjah their first win of the season.

Ramiro netted late to hand Al Wasl a 1-0 win over Bani Yas at Bani Yas stadium in the opening matchweek of the 2021-22 ADNOC Pro League season.

Both sides couldn’t carve out real goal-scoring chances in the first half, as they headed into halftime deadlocked at 0-0.

Al Wasl looked more dangerous after the restart with their most dangerous chance coming in the 65th minute when Ramiro’s header hit the woodwork.

As the game appeared to be headed for a draw, Ramiro headed the ball at the bottom corner of the net to hand the guests three valuable points.

Earlier, Al Jazira kicked their title defence with a 2-0 victory over Al Dhafra at Mohammad bin Zayed Stadium.

It was the home side, who got the breakthrough midway through the first half when Abdullah Ramadan controlled the ball well from a Thulani Serero pass before sending it into the bottom corner of Al Dhafra’s net.

The guests came close to leveling the scoreline six minutes after the restart, but Mohamed Aljneibi blasted his shot over the bar. Twenty minutes from time, substitute Joao Victor doubled Al Jazira’s lead off an assist from Ali Mabkhout.

Al Jazira were brought down to 10 men when Bruno was sent off for a second booking three minutes from time. It was, however, too late for Al Dhafra as the titleholders claimed all three points.