We turned the tables on Al Wasl in the second half

Shabab Al-Ahly player, Yuri Cesar, said that they held on after conceding a goal in the last minutes of the first half against Al-Wasl, and they succeeded in the second period in turning the table around and achieving a 3-1 victory, praising at the same time the goal scored by substitute Mohammed Jumaa Al-Mansouri, describing it as “wonderful.” Cesar explained in press statements following the confrontation, which was held yesterday at Rashid Stadium, and was postponed from the ninth round of the ADNOC Professional League, in the presence of about 5,000 spectators: “It was a complicated match, and the opponent was not easy, and we did not perform at the required level in the first half, and it is good that we held together despite the delay and turned the tables in the second half and took control.”

Shabab Al-Ahly ended the first half late with Ali Saleh’s goal in the 44th minute, but the “Dubai Knights” had their say in the second half, as Yuri Cesar equalized in the 49th minute, then the same player returned and scored the lead goal in the 68th minute, before substitute Mohamed Jumaa secured the result with the third goal in the 88th minute.

“Dubai Knights” rose to second place in the standings with 26 points with a postponed match against Ajman, and only four points behind leaders Al Ain, while “The Emperor”’s balance froze at 22 points in fourth place.

Commenting on his replacement with a group of his teammates in the second half, Cesar said: “The coach is working on rotation in order to maintain the readiness of all players, especially in light of the pressure of the matches, and he seeks to distribute efforts.”

Regarding Al-Mansouri’s goal, which came from a typical counterattack, Yuri Cesar said: “He scored a wonderful goal that ended the match before the final whistle.”

For his part, Al-Wasl player, Renato Tapia, admitted that they felt pain from the continued loss of points, stressing that they did not know how to resolve the confrontation with Shabab Al-Ahly after taking the lead in the first half, and that this is something that must be corrected.

Tapia said: “Certainly, every draw or loss in the league is difficult because we lose important points. At the beginning of the season we also lost a number of points, and this is painful. In the first half against Shabab Al-Ahly, we entered looking for our opportunity, got it and advanced, but after that we did not know how to resolve matters, and this is really painful.”