Mabkhout nets treble to shock Al Shabab in seven-goal clash

Al Shabab and Al Jazira engage in midfield action during their AGL match in Dubai on Sunday. Photo by Dhes Handumon/ Khaleej Times

Dubai — Hat-trick hero Ali Mabkhout’s last-gasp header ensured Al Jazira edged this pulsating seven-goal thriller at Al Shabab and moved top of the Arabian Gulf League on Sunday evening.

First-half goals by Mabkhout and Manuel Lanzini put the Pride of Abu Dhabi 2-0 ahead before subsequent strikes from Henrique Luvannor (2) and Azizbek Haydarov swung this encounter in the Hawks’ favour.

However, Jazira — and Mabkhout — were not to be denied and his brace thereafter secured the three points necessary for them to climb above Al Ain, Shabab and Al Wahda on the league ladder.

Shabab were the sharper of the two sides in the early exchanges, but they were caught out midway through the first half as Jazira took the lead against the run of play.

A Hawks corner was partially cleared out to Montenegrin maestro Mirko Vucinic, who sent Mabkhout scampering away into the hosts’ half of the field.

His boot beat Manei Mohamed’s attempted header to the ball and he duly advanced to clinically despatch the opener past Salem Abdulla.

Mabkhout almost made it 2-0 three minutes later, when Jonathan Pitroipa found him on the edge of the penalty area and he clipped a curling effort narrowly wide of Abdulla’s far post.

It mattered little nonetheless for, moments later, Lanzini waltzed beyond two would-be Shabab challengers and expertly found the bottom left-hand corner of Abdulla’s net.

Two goals down and facing an uphill battle to find a way back into proceedings, Shabab needed something to spark their flagging interest in this match and that arrived eight minutes before the break.

Carlos Villanueva’s right-sided corner was swung in towards the near post, where Luvannor’s flick header evaded Ali Khaseif’s despairing dive and went in off the far post.

Having halved the arrear though, Shabab came close to allowing Jazira to double the deficit once more almost immediately.

Sultan Al Suwaidi’s cross was diverted onto the crossbar by Abdulla and Pitroipa just couldn’t turn home the rebound off the woodwork.

The sheer importance of surviving that late scare and Luvannor’s prior lifeline was made clear three minutes into the second period with Haydarov drawing Shabab level.

Villanueva was again the architect, cutting back for Edgar Bruno Da Silva and he merely shielded the pass for Haydarov to score with the aid of a very handy deflection off of Musallem Fayez.

The Shabab comeback was complete on the hour mark too. Luvannor played a neat one-two with Edgar Bruno and he promptly applied a crisp, diagonal finish to the return pass.

Parity only last five minutes nonetheless. Lanzini fed a right-sided corner in low to Vucinic and miscued effort ran on nicely for Mabkhout to notch his second and Jazira’s third.

Both clubs thus had 25 minutes to muster a winner and Shabab were within a whisker of providing it when Villanueva struck the outside of an upright.

A decisive strike did ultimately arrive in the second-half stoppage time, when Pitroipa’s dinked cross found Mabkhout and his header went in off the underside of Abdulla’s crossbar.

alex@khaleejtimes.com