Qatar SC exited the King Salman Club Cup after playing a 1-1 draw with Tunisian club CS Sfaxien in their second-leg match in the first qualifying round at the Suhaim bin Hamad Stadium of Qatar Sports Club on Tuesday, April 11, 2023.
The first-leg match, played at the Stade Taieb Mhiri in Sfax, Tunisia, on April 3, 2023, had ended in a goalless draw.
Sfaxien thus progressed to the next round on away-goal rule. They will join Group A, also featuring Esperance de Tunis, Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia and Iraq’s Al Shorta.
Sfaxien’s goal was scored by Mohamed Kante following a defensive error in the 41st minute and Javier Pastore scored the equalizer for Qatar SC in the 89th minute.
Qatar SC players wasted opportunities, in addition to being offside more than once, especially Sebastian Soria, who once tried to hit the ball into the goal with his hand and received a yellow card. On another occasion, he headed the ball into the net, but was ruled offside.
Qatar SC were the best until they conceded the goal, while Sfaxien retreated after taking the lead and relied on counter-attacks.
Sfaxien surged ahead close to half-time when Kante capitalized on a mistake by Qatar SC defenders.
Qatar SC tried to press at the beginning of second half and put all of their players into attack in order to equalize, but they found the task difficult after Sfaxien defended well.
Qatar SC finally found the equalizer close to the end through Pastore, but Sfaxien went through as aggregate winners.