• Home
• /
• Local Sports

Tagliabue knocks Sharjah black and blue

Sharjah - The Argentine reeled off a hat-trick, five goals in total as The Clarets won 7-1 at the Al Sharjah Stadium.

Al Wahda marksman Sebastian Tagliabue sniped Al Sharjah, ripping the hosts to shreds in the sixth round of the Arabian Gulf League on Wednesday night.
The Argentine reeled off a hat-trick, five goals in total as The Clarets won 7-1 at the Al Sharjah Stadium.
It was perhaps Al Wahda's biggest win, and in what looked more like a highlights package, Tagliabue, the former Everton striker looked unstoppable as he scored on 37, 56, 78, 86 and 88 minutes.
This was after South Korean defender Chang Woo Rim had given Al Wahda the lead on 13 minutes. Youngster Mohamed Alakberi scored one in the 52nd minute.
Chang Woo Rim scored an own goal as well but it proved to be just a minor blip in what turned out to be a nightmare for Al Sharjah.
Tagliabue's five goals, which also included a penalty, leapfrogged him past Al Jazira's Ali Ahmed Mabkhout to become the League's top scorer with 10 goals.
Emirati striker Ali Mabkhout is on nine, while Al Ahli's Rodrigo Lima has six, after his hat-trick against Hatta, earlier in the evening.
This was Al Wahda's second win in a row, coming on the back of the 5-1 victory over Al Nasr, which eventually cost Ivan Jovanovic his job.
It was one of the heaviest defeats for Al Sharjah, in recent memory, leaving a lot left to ponder for coach Giorgos Donis.
The Greek coach, signed in the summer from Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal, sat glum-faced in the home dug-out as the massacre unfolded.
This was Al Sharjah's fourth defeat and second on the trot, after they had lost to Al Wasl last week. Donis and his men have just two wins to show from six fixtures.
Chang Woo Rim put Al Wahda ahead on 13 minutes but the visitors were left mortified after the South Korean import scored into his own net to bring things level.
But The Clarets did not sulk and nudged ahead on 37 minutes with Tagliabue getting his first on the scoresheet after an assist from Chilean international Jorge Valdivia.
Al Sharjah had an opportunity on 49 minutes but Alhasan Saleh flashed his left-footer wide of the post after he had intercepted a crisp cross from the right.
Al Wahda though, went for the kill, with Tagliabue surging through the right after being put in before squaring it up for Valdivia in the box. But the Chilean international selflessly passed it to Mohamed Alakberi, who skimmed it into the net.
And then, the floodgates were to open with Tagliabue popping up send a fine header off Hungarian captain Balazs Dzsudzsak's corner.
Valdivia was later brought down by Shaheen Abdelrahman and Tagliabue made no mistake with the penalty, tucking it into the right corner of the net.
With Al Sharjah in complete disarray, Tagliabue pounced on twin defensive lapses to get his fourth and fifth.
james@khaleejtimes.com
GOALS AND CARDS: 
Al Sharjah 1
(Goal:  Chang Woo Rim 29 OG)
Al Wahda 7
(Goals: Chang Woo Rim 13, Sebastian Tagliabue 37, 56, 78, 86, 88, Mohamed Alakberi 52. Yellow card: Jorge Valdivia 24)