Al Wahda rally to down Al Duhail to remain unbeaten in ACL Elite

Hosts Al Wahda came back from going a goal behind to remain unbeaten in the AFC Champions League Elite as Jose Morais’ side notched up a 3-1 win over Qatar’s Al Duhail at Abu Dhabi's Al Nahyan Stadium on Monday.

Kryzsztof Piatek had given the visitors a 20th minute lead but an Omar Khribin penalty 15 minutes later levelled the scores before Brahima Diarra put Al Wahda in front two minutes into stoppage time and Ala Zouhir hit a spectacular third in the 67th minute.

The result moves Al Wahda onto seven points from their first three games while Al Duhail are still looking for their first win, with Djamel Belmadi’s side on one point.

Al Wahda had impressed in the opening exchanges, only for Morais’ side to go behind.

Dusan Tadic sliced his close-range effort wide of the Al Duhail goal in the 12th minute after being played in on goal by Zouhir as the home side made a positive start with the former Ajax Amsterdam playmaker to the fore.

Zouhir unlocked the visiting defence again three minutes later when he muscled his way past the defence to clip in a cross from the right that the unmarked Caio Canedo slammed over the bar from 15 yards out.

It was against the run of play, then, that Al Duhail took the lead as the halfway point in the half approached.

Sultan Al Brake’s perfect pass from 35 yards out sliced through the Al Wahda defence to find Adil Boulbina as he scampered towards the byeline, the winger cutting the ball back first time to set up Piatek to push his shot over from inside the six yard box.

Jean-Charles Castelletto’s pull on Khribin’s shirt saw referee Gulmurodi Sadullo point to the penalty spot and the Syria international showed no hesitation to slam his spot-kick beyond Arthur Desmas as dived the wrong way.

Two minutes into time added on at the end of the half, Al Wahda went in front.

Tadic’s clever flick over the defence found Diarra and, while his initial attempt was headed away by defender Youssef Ayman, the midfielder’s persistence ensured he netted at the second attempt from a tight angle after sidestepping Desmas’ dive.

Al Wahda sealed the win in spectacular fashion midway through the second half, Tadic seeing his shot from 25 yards take a deflection off Cestelletto and Zouhir reacted, springing into the air to launch an unstoppable overhead strike beyond the helpless goalkeeper.