Baghdad [Iraq], February 17: Al Duhail SC's Round of 16 hopes were left hanging by a thread following a 3-2 defeat to Al Shorta in their AFC Champions League Elite 2025-26 tie at the Al Zawraa Stadium on Monday.
The defeat left Qatar's Al Duhail seventh in the West Zone standings on eight points but they will be denied progression if fellow Qatari sides win their concluding League Stage matches on Tuesday.
Al Shorta, who came from behind to clinch victory, signed off in style with the Iraqi side notching their first win in the final match of their campaign.
Al Duhail, whose qualification hopes were boosted after UAE's Sharjah suffered a 2-1 defeat to PFC Nasaf of Uzbekistan in an earlier game, were let off the hook in the third minute when they failed to deal with Mootez Zaddem's cutback into the six-yard box with Bassam Shakir and Bassala Sambou squandering the chance.
Al Duhail, however, responded with a goal in the 10th minute after Krzysztof Piatek converted Mubarak Shanan's headed lay-off with a sublime overhead strike into the bottom right corner.
Despite having no chance of progressing, Al Shorta continued to press and were rewarded with the equaliser nine minutes later when Sultan Al Brake failed to clear Ahmed Yahya's cross, leaving Ali Jasim Al Saedi to tee-up Bassam Shakir for a curling finish.
Adil Boulbina then missed his chance to put Al Duhail ahead from a set-piece situation in the 33rd minute, while Shakir sent his left-footed shot from distance over the bar.
The Qatari outfit's positive approach was rewarded when they were awarded a penalty following a VAR decision after Sambou's handball in the 43rd minute, with Piatek stepping up to restore their lead.
Al Shorta returned rejuvenated from the break with Leonel Ateba forcing Salah Zakaria to keep out his shot from a tight angle in the 52nd minute before Ahmed Farhan saw his long distance effort saved by the Al Duhail custodian.
Sambou made amends for conceding the penalty in the first half after converting Shakir's charge down the centre in the 57th minute with a powerful drive into the bottom left corner.
Another lapse in concentration by the Qatari side allowed Al Shorta to take the lead a minute later, with Sambou again the tormentor as he fired in a close range finish from Hussein Ali Jasim Al Saedi's layoff to put a serious dent in Al Duhail's Round of 16 hopes.
Source: Qatar Tribune
