Sweet revenge as Al Jazira swamp Al Wahda

Dubai - Whether it was sheer accident or a result that happens once in a blue moon, revenge may have felt sweet for the Al Jazira players, as the shoe was on the other foot this time.

Al Wahda coach Javier Aguirre may have termed that 6-0 win which put holders Al Jazira out of the President's Cup as an "accident" and a result that comes only "once in a blue moon."
Whether it was sheer accident or a result that happens once in a blue moon, revenge may have felt sweet for the Al Jazira players, as the shoe was on the other foot this time.
Al Jazira exacted revenge of events two weeks ago by swamping their nemesis down the road and restored the pride back to Abu Dhabi.
Henk ten Cate's men were 5-1 winners in an ill-tempered fixture on Thursday night and their 11th win and seventh at their fortress - the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, swelled their tally at the top of the Arabian Gulf League table to 35 points.
And with Al Ain consigned to their first defeat, by Emirates, earlier in the evening, Al Jazira have a four-point cushion under their arms.
That lead could be slashed to three though with Al Wasl and Al Ahli, who are both on 29 points, set to play Al Dhafra and Al Nasr respectively, on the morrow.
Irrespective of what transpires at the Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium and the Rashid Stadium on Friday, Al Jazira will go into another week as the League's leaders.
For Al Wahda, they ended the game with eight men on the pitch after goalkeeper Rashed Ali Al Suwaidi and Sebastian Tagliabue given straight red cards, while Hungarian captain Balazs Dzsudzsak joined them after a second booking.
 It was the 'Capital Clasico' and it got off to the worst possible start for Al Wahda with Rashed Ali Al Suwaidi given marching orders, just five minutes in.
Al Jazira striker Ali Mabkhout had made a dangerous foray from the right and Rashed Ali charged out of the box to thwart the Emirati frontman's challenge. But in the process, he handled the ball and referee Yaqoub Qasem sent him on his way.
Aguirre was forced into a change and sacrificed Tareq Ahmed for second choice goalkeeper Ali Al Hosani.
Aided by that numerical advantage, Al Jazira made a foray with Ailton Almeida shooting wide of the post before Ali Mabkhout scored his 16th goal of the competition. His first attempt was blocked by Ali Al Hosani but he made no mistake with the rebound.
Ali Mabkhout could have levelled Al Wasl's Fabio de Lima at the top of the goal scorers' list, moments later, but his effort from the left, hit the side netting.
Despite being a man down, Al Wahda cancelled Mabkhout's goal through their Argentine striker Sebastian Tagliabue.
But then, Al Jazira nosed ahead again with Leonardo showing his class once more and enhancing his reputation with a long-ranged effort from the left, which curled just about enough.
The UAE is in the midst of a pleasant winter but things got heated up out there in middle with Tagliabue given a straight red card for remonstrating with the referee Yaqoub Qasem.
But it didn't end there as he did the same with the fourth referee Khalid Bu Hasan even as teammate Ismail Matar tried to control him.
Al Jazira piled on more misery with Leonardo scoring the third by breaking the offside trap and firing it in.
Dzsudzsak soon joined Rashed Ali and Tagliabue in the sin bin after receiving his second booking of the night.
Ailton Almeida and Sultan Barghash then wrapped things up for Al Jazira.
james@khaleejtimes.com