Lekhwiya rode their luck and had to fight it out on penalties to defeat Umm Salal in the quarter-final of the Emir Cup which took place at the Abdullah bin Khalifa stadium yesterday. 

Umm Salal’s Fabio Cesar missed his chance whilst all of Lekhwiya’s players converted theirs chances to give the Qatar Stars League champions a 5-3 victory in the shootout. Lekhwiya dominated possession, to the tune of 58 per cent by the end of the match but didn’t have too much to show for it.

Lekhwiya could only manage eight shots at Salal’s goal with just four on target. Salal, on the other hand, despite not seeing as much of the ball, Sala had 11 shots on goal with three on target. It was Salal who had the more dangerous opportunities in the match. They started the match well and were able to counter attack with some intent. 

The Emir Cup rules state that matches will have no extra time and instead will go straight to penalties, and that is how it turned out on the night.

Sebastian Soria, who had come on as a substitute in the 73rd minute took the first shot for Lekhwiya, his effort hit Salal keeper Malik on the leg and went in. 

For Salal, it was Cesar who stepped up to take the first shot but it was a feeble attempt, so wide of the goal that Lekhwiya keeper Rodrigues didn’t have to bother trying to save it. Ahmed Abdel Maqsood, Tamir Jamal Othman, Ismail Mahmood all scored for Salal. 

Whilst Chico Flores, Karim Boudiaf, Weiss and Youssef Msakni scored for Lekhwiya to emerge victorious. 

Salal will feel that they could have gotten the better of Lekhwiya had they converted their decent chances. In the end however it was the QSL and Qatar Cup champions who stay on course for a domestic treble!