Sharjah produce record Asian Champions League win to keep knockout hopes alive

Arabian Gulf League club defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Taawoun 6-0 at the Education City Stadium in Doha

Welliton, pictured during an Arabian Gulf League game, scored a hat-trick to guide Sharjah to a 6-0 win over Al Taawoun. Chris Whiteoak / The National

UAE side Sharjah recorded their best ever result in the Asian Champions League on Monday night to keep alive hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

The Arabian Gulf League club, the most recently crowned UAE champions, defeated Saudi Arabia’s Al Taawoun 6-0 at the Education City Stadium in Doha in their penultimate Group C encounter. Brazilian forward Welliton grabbed a second-half hat-trick.

The result means qualification remains in Sharjah's own hands going into the final group fixture on Thursday. With the win, Abdulaziz Al Anbari’s men moved to second in the standings, but are level on seven points with third-placed Persepolis.

Should Sharjah defeat the Iranians at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, they will progress to the last 16 for the first time in their history. The top two teams go through.

Looking to build on Friday’s superb 4-2 victory against group leaders Al Duhail, Sharjah did not break the deadlock against Taawoun until first-half added time, when winger Saif Rashid converted Igor Coronado’s free-kick.

After the break, though, the Emirati side struck three times within the first 12 minutes, Welliton notching a double and substitute Mohammed Abdulbasit getting the other.

Just after the hour, Welliton completed his hat-trick by nodding home another Coronado cross. The Brazilian, part of that domestic title-winning team in the 2018/19 campaign, had returned to Sharjah earlier this month following a season at Al Wasl.

It was left to his compatriot, Caio, to round off an extraordinary evening in Qatar, the winger adding his side’s sixth on the night in the 68th minute.