Xavi Hernández wins his seventh title with Al-Sadd after beating Al-Rayyan of James Rodríguez

The Al-Sadd by Xavi Hernández he beat Al-Rayyan on penalties this Friday and won the Emir Cup, the seventh title of the former Barcelona player in the Qatari team with which he continues to oppose becoming the future coach of the Barça team.

Since signing for Al-Sadd in 2019, Xavi has not stopped racking up titles in his showcase. In it, they already wear a Sheikh Jassem Cup, two Qatar Crown Prince Cups, a Qatar Stars Cup, a Qatar League and two other Emir Cups. The last one, he got it on a stage that is already ready to show off in the Qatar-2022 World Cup, the Al-Thumama stadium.

The final of the tournament marked the kick-off for one of the new soccer fields that will host the matches of the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Specifically, Al-Thumama was the sixth of the eight venues to be inaugurated. Designed by the Spanish architecture studio Fenwick Iribarren together with the Qatari architect Ibrahim Jaidah, it hosted a meeting marked by the confrontation of two technicians such as Xavi Hernández and Laurent Blanc with an exalted football past.

With its full capacity, the Al-Thumama worked perfectly. Impeccable grass, design with nods to the local population (covered in the shape of a ‘gahfiya’, a traditional crocheted cap among Arab youth) and with a cooling generated with solar energy, the new stadium appeared as a perfect enclosure that showed the planet that the infrastructures of the World Cup are going from strength to strength.

And, the first 90 minutes that were played at Al-Thumama, ended in the form of a title for Al-Sadd. Xavi could with Blanc. And he did it with Santi Cazorla on the pitch, who was in charge of balancing the balance from the penalty spot. He scored 1-1 at the start of the second half after Brahimi’s goal, also from eleven meters, on the brink of halftime.

That was the marker with which the duel ended, which, without extra time, went straight to penalties. Colombian James Rodríguez, lined up from the start by Blanc in his second starting game, could not throw any. He was substituted five minutes from the end and watched from the bench as his teammates ran out of a trophy.

Cazorla was chosen to take one of the penalties that were to decide the title. It did not fail. Like none of his teammates, who scored in all his attempts. Iranian Shoja Khalilzadeh’s mistake, fifth on the list, gave Al-Sadd the trophy, the seventh for Xavi in ​​his Qatari adventure as he waits his turn to return to Barcelona. (D)