Olunga scores two goals to give Al Duhail first Champions League win
28th November 2023
The victory was not enough for Al Duhail as the Qatar side were eliminated from the Asian Champions League.
- The former Gor Mahia man scored in the 47th and 90th minute to give Duhail their first win.
- The result took them to 3rd on the log on 4 points.
- Their elimination was confirmed due to a mathematically insurmountable gap with only one game remaining,
Kenyan captain Michael Olunga continued with his purple patch in front of goal as he scored two goals on Monday night to help his Al Duhail outfit record their first win in the 23/24 Asian Champions League following a 2-0 win over Istiqol Dushanbe from Tajikistan.
The former Gor Mahia man, who had also bagged a brace in Harambee Stars’ 5-0 drubbing over Seychelles, scored in the 47th and 90th minute to give Duhail their first win of the group phase but the victory was not enough as the Qatar side were eliminated from the competition.
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This is after Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr, where Cristiano Ronaldo
plies his trade, and Persepolis FC of the Islamic Republic of Iran played to a
goalless draw in the other Group E tie to create a mathematically
insurmountable point gap.
In the match staged at the Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium, Ehson Panjshanbe saw his eighth minute goal-bound effort blocked by Olunga while three minutes later the Turkmenistan side had the ball in the net, only for Cedric Gogoua to be ruled offside after rolling his shot over the line following Alisher Dzhalilov’s free-kick.
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Al Duhail thought they had been given a penalty when Olunga went down under a challenge by Gogoua only for referee Muhammad Nazmi Nasaruddin to overturn his decision to award the spot-kick upon reviewing the incident on the pitch side monitor.
The Qataris took the lead two minutes into the second half when Olunga met Isaac Lihadji’s deflected cross from the right with a header that goalkeeper Rustam Yatimov clawed to apparent safety, only for the goal to be given after VAR confirmed the ball had crossed the line.
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Towards the end of the game, Olunga then met Ismaeel Mohammad’s cross from the right to double his side’s advantage and confirm the three points for the home outfit despite an injury time red card for Ruben Semedo for fouling Shervoni Mabatshoev.
Despite their winning touch, the result was not enough as they crashed out of the AFC Champions League, a competition where Duhail managed to get to the semifinals in 2022 and where Olunga was crowned the top scorer in 2021 with 9 goals.
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"There is a big difference between the teams we faced. Al Nassr have high-quality attacking players, while Istiklol are very adept.
Nevertheless we must work and improve from one match to another, and our victory does not mean that there are no mistakes that must be corrected if we want to win titles," former PSG manager Christophe Galtier, who is now in charge at Duhail, said.
Al Duhail end their campaign against Persepolis on December 5, with the Islamic Republic of Iran side needing a win to stand a chance of advancing.
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