Al Sadd played out a goalless draw with Wydad of Morocco in their opening match of King Salman Club Cup 2023 at the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium in Abha, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.

Wydad were reduced to 10 men in the 36th minute after their midfielder Yahya Jabrane was shown the red card for making a strong foul on Al Sadd’s Pedro Miguel.
The team from Casablanca then bogged down in defence and managed to hold on well as Al Sadd made several forays at regular intervals, but could not find the target.

Al Sadd began at a good pace and threatened to breach the rival defence repeatedly. In the 29th minute, striker Akram Afif made a good header from the centre, off an Ali Asad assist, but it was held in the nick of time.
Three minutes later, a Hassan Al Haydous left-footer from outside the box went high over the bar.
On resumption of the second half, Tarek Salman made a good pass to Boualem Khoukhi who struck from more than 35 yards, but the kick was saved in front of the goal by Wydad keeper Youssef El Motie.
Al Sadd continued to be on the offensive and in the 55th minute their Colombian midfielder Matheus Uribe superbly deflected a Pedro shot, but it went on to hit the left post.
Minutes later, Uribe made another attempt from the centre, but it went just wide to the left.
In the 61st minute, Baghdad Bounedjah’s shot missed the target going wide to the right.
Wydad resorted to some strong tackles as Al Sadd picked up pace and soon tempers frayed.
Al Sadd coach Bruno Miguel also called for several substitutions to be made including replacing Boundejah with Ahmed Al Saeed in the 79th minute.
Al Sadd pushed hard till the very end to find success, but the goal remained elusive.
In the 87th minute, Afif worked his way through the rival defence inside the box to provide a cross to Uribe, but the latter’s header was cut off by an alert defender.
Later, Afif made a long-range attempt but the ball sailed away from the right post.

Al Sadd in their next Group B fixture will meet Al Hilal club on Sunday (July 30) at the same venue before meeting Ahli Tripoli on August 2.
The top two teams from four groups will advance to the knockout stage of tournament.