AL SHABAB have lost the Gulf Champions League final 3-0 to Qatari side Al Rayyan however, the major talking point was the disastrous performance of the referee Adel Al Naqbi.
Al Shabab were already disappointed with the announcement that Doha would host the semi-finals and final of the competition. The AGCFF opted to select Doha as the host over Riyadh as Al Rayyan had more points in the group stage despite there being no regulation which allowed for such a decision.
Al Shabab’s disappointment would slowly turn into anger. Abderrazak Hamdallah was fouled while shielding the ball in the penalty area. Al Naqbi opted not to award the penalty and refused to consult VAR despite it being a clear and obvious error. Later in the first half, Yannick Carrasco was hauled down in the box by an Al Rayyan defender only for the referee to ignore the incident and failed to consult VAR.
Yannick Carrasco’s frustrations at the referee were evident through out the first half game and continued into the second half. A reckless tackle by an Al Rayyan defender which warranted a red card left a huge cut down the Belgian’s leg. The referee once again refused to check the decision and instead opted to award a yellow card to Carrasco. Carrasco mockingly clapped the referee’s decision and was immediately issued with a red card.
To add salt into the wound of the Al Shabab team, Al Rayyan were issued with a corner following the Carrasco incident, despite it being obvious that the Belgian had been fouled. Al Rayyan subsequently opened the scoring from that corner.
Al Shabab with ten men completely fell apart and ultimately ended up conceding three goals.
Noureddine Zekri, Al Shabab’s manager, stated after the game that his press conference had been cancelled by the organisers because he might “explode about the refereeing”. When asked directly about the referee Zekri said, “God is sufficient for me, and He is the best disposer of affairs against you, referee.”
