Riffa crowned Nasser bin Hamad football champions!

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Riffa were last night crowned champions of the 2021/2022 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.

Riffa clinched the title for the second successive season—and 14th overall—following an emphatic 4-1 victory over Muharraq at the National Stadium in Riffa.

Mohammed Jassim Marhoon, Hashem Sayed Isa, Ali Hassan Saeed and Mohammed Al Rumaihi were all on target for the winners.

The first three goals were fired in within a 25-minute span in the first half, while the fourth was scored in the final 45 minutes. The back-to-back league titlists ended the season three points clear of Manama at the end of 18 weeks of action.

They completed their campaign with an unbeaten record, having claimed their 12th win to go with six draws. Manama were also winners last night, but it was not enough for them to go level on points with Riffa and send the title race into a winner-take-all affair.

Manama defeatd Al Khaldiya 2-1 in yesterday’s other game, which marked the concluding day of the current campaign. Marhoon opened the scoring for Riffa in the fourth minute of play on a one-on-one with Muharraq goalkeeper Sayed Mohammed Jaafar.

Marhoon sent the ball into the bottom-right corner of goal to give his team a dream start. Isa doubled their advantage in the 13th minute. His initial effort was parried by Jaafar and it hit the right post, but then Isa pounced on the rebound and sent the ball home into an open net.

Saeed then gave Riffa a virtually insurmountable lead with a goal in the 25th minute. He scored from the face of goal off a short cross from the left of the box supplied by Mouaiad Samir Alajaan. Mohammed Al Rumaihi supplied Riffa’s fourth goal in the 70th minute.

He was on the receiving end of a brilliant through-pass from Jassim Al Shaikh, and after rounding Jaafar, tapped the ball in with his second touch. Muharraq were able to find the net in the 82nd minute with their lone consolation through Brazilian Flavio Silva.

The result earned Riffa three more points to end the season. They finished on 42. Muharraq suffered their seventh loss and stayed on 27 points in fourth on the league table. Meanwhile, in last night’s other fixture, Manama had their first goal from the penalty spot after Khaldiya’s Mohammed Adel was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area.

Bahrain league top scorer Mahdi Abduljabbar made no mistake with his shot, which he sent to the bottom-left corner. Mahdi Abdullatif then doubled the Manama advantage in the 44th minute. After the break, Ismaeel Abdullatif got a goal back for Khaldiya in the 76th minute. Manama claimed their 11th win and rose to 39 points. Khaldiya suffered their fourth loss and remained on 30 in third place.