Muharraq come up short in qualifiers

TDT | Manama                                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com     

Bahrain’s Muharraq Club were last night eliminated from the 2023 King Salman Club Cup.

The Bahrainis’ exit was secured following a 0-1 loss yesterday in the second leg of their second qualification round match-up against Tunisian outfit Union Sportive Monastirienne (USM).

Muharraq thus bowed to their rivals 0-3 on aggregate as they came up short in their bid for a berth in the region’s top tournament, organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations, also known as the Arab Club Champions Cup.

They had earlier lost in the first leg held in Tunis just over a week ago.

Last night’s game was played at the Shaikh Ali bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Stadium in Arad. Youssouf Oumarou scored the game’s lone goal in the 76th minute of play.

Muharraq were then reduced to just 10 men in the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time after Waleed Al Hayyam was given his marching orders with a red card.

With the loss, Muharraq became the second Bahraini team to be booted out of the tournament, following in the footsteps of Manama, who lost in the first qualifying stage against Al Hilal Omdurman of Sudan.

Twelve teams are in this second phase of qualification, which will determine the six teams that will move on to the group stage.

Ten squads have already entered the King Salman Club Cup directly, including champion clubs from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

The tournament carries a huge prize purse, with the champions pocketing a cool US$6million.

The runners-up get $2.5million, while the semi-finalists each take home $200,000 and the quarter-finalists $150,000 each.