Qatari sides remain winless in the bilateral tournament following Al Sadd’s Super Shield loss at home.
Midfielder Nicolas Giménez’s stunning second half goal handed UAE’s Al Wasl the Qatar-UAE Super Shield at Doha’s Jassim bin Hamad Stadium on Saturday.
The defeat came at the biggest of stages for Felix Sanchez’s side, who had been on an unbeaten run for almost four months.
Qatari teams have now lost all three encounters in the ongoing Qatar-UAE Super Cup, with Al Rayyan and Qatar SC’s crushing defeats in the previous matches.
The visitors from UAE, on the other hand, were buoyed by a wave of passionate visiting fans, whose singing and drumming made for an electrifying atmosphere from the very first whistle.
In a second half that saw everything — multiple shots off the post, a stunning goal, a brawl, and a sending off — Gimenez starred to deny the hosts from glory.

Al Sadd’s defence faced little threat in a largely uneventful first half in front of 9,043 fans, with key players like Haris Seferovic, Ali Saleh, and the naturalized Emirati duo of Fabio De Lima and Gimenez leading the charge for Al Wasl.
The first test for veteran Qatari goalkeeper Saad Al-Sheeb came in the 10th minute as Al Wasl’s Swiss striker Seferovic forced a save at the near post.
In the 39th minute, Al Sadd’s Pedro Miguel made a crucial block to deny Al Wasl’s captain, Ali Saleh, keeping the score level as the teams went into the break.
The hosts barely created anything in the first 45 minutes, their talismanic forward Akram Afif still largely absent from the action.
The second half began similarly for Sanchez’s side, with Tarek Salman’s goal-line clearance seven minutes in keeping them in the game.
The breakthrough happened just three minutes after. Argentine-Emirati midfielder Gimenez arrived at the edge of the box in time to meet Seferovic’s cut-back, before firing a shot in the top-left corner to send the visiting fans into pandemonium.
Al Sadd came alive after conceding, however. All three shots that were pelted towards Al Wasl’s post at the hour mark were blocked by the last line of defence, yet got the home supporters on their feet.
Salman’s header then was cleared off the line in the 68th minute, by which Seferovic had managed to force another save on the near post.
Guilherme, introduced on the pitch by Sanchez to get a better control in the midfield, hit the side net in the 71st minute, and Afif’s curling free-kick missed the far-post just five minutes after.

It was in the 78th minute that Al Sadd’s closest chance of the night arrived. Spanish forward Rafa Mujica, another one off the bench, hit the cross bar. Mujica would be called to action yet again seven minutes after, but his header remained off target this time.
Al Sadd came agonisingly close to equalising with just a minute of injury time left. Tarek Salman did well to meet Ahmed Suhail’s free-kick, yet the goalpost came in the hosts’ way again. Al Wasl were quick to clear, having resisted well for the last 30 minutes.
The noisy Al Wasl fans made their presence felt once again in the dying minutes and the saga led to Hassan Al-Haydos getting sent off.
As the 2023/24 UAE Pro League champions lifted the silverware at the reigning Qatari champions’ home, the chants only grew louder.