Doha, May 19 (QNA) - Al Sadd SC won Friday the 45th HH the Emir Cup after beating Al Rayyan 2-1, in the match that took place at Khalifa International Stadium.

Hassan Al Haidous and Jugurtha Hamroun scored Al Sadd's goals in the 56th minute and the 91st minute respectively. Al Rayyan's goal machine Rodrigo Tabata scored for his team in the 49th minute.

The title is the third in four years for Al Sadd and the 16th in the club's history. Al Sadd is the record holder of HH the Emir Cup with twice as many wins as number two on the list, Al Arabi SC. Al Gharafa is the team with the third-most titles, seven. Al Rayyan is fourth, one title less than Al Gharafa.

The two teams seemed wary of one another at the beginning of the match, which was normal given the magnitude of the occasion since it is the biggest competition of the season. The winner of the cup get to play in the AFC Champions League the following season.

It was clear that the instructions of both Manuel Ferreira and Michael Laudrup were focused on solidifying their defense in order to avoid conceding an early goal. Despite that, Al Rayyan were slightly better in the opening minutes and managed to exploit Al Sadd's right wing, albeit without finding the final touch. Al Sadd were man-marking Tabata from the first instances of the match, although that would later on prove to be a futile exercise, and succeeded in silencing him in the opening minutes of the match.

As the minutes passed the two teams got more into the match. Al Sadd eventually put Al Rayyan under siege but failed to find the breakthrough and the first-half ended 0-0. 

The second half started out with a bang as Al Rayyan took the lead in the 49th minute when Mohammed Alaa played a great ball to Tabata who managed to rebound his own effort into the back of the net. 

With the players clearly emotional after taking the lead, Al Rayyan couldn't hold out for long and conceded a penalty kick just seven minutes later. Haidous took the penalty and made no mistake from the spot to bring Al Sadd back into the game. 

The equalizer brought the match to life and both side exchanged attacks. Despite that, it was actually a set piece that threatened the most when Tabata's free kick hit the woodwork which saved Al Sadd from going down again. The shot shell-shocked Al Sadd players a little but eventually they came back into the game and in the dying minutes managed to deliver the deadly blow. Just as the first seconds of extra time arrived, Xavi found Hamroun with a killer pass and the latter made no mistake with a thunderous strike to win the title for Al Sadd. They could have added a third minutes later, but the woodwork had other opinions.  

It is the first time that those two sides meet in the final of the competition since 1977, when Al Sadd won 1-0. It was the club's second cup title back then. Meanwhile Al Rayyan had to wait until 1999 to win the competition for the first time, beating Al Gharafa 2-1. Since 1977, the two sides met in the final four more times. Al Sadd won three more of them, and Al Rayyan won the latest one back in 2013. 

A total of eight teams won HH the Emir Cup since it was first launched. Last year's edition saw Al Sadd miss out on the title, losing 2-4 on penalties to Lekhwiya. They made no mistake this time around to win a record 16th cup title. Al Arabi are second on that list with eight titles. Al Gharafa is the team with the third-most titles, seven. Al Rayyan is fourth, one title less than Al Gharafa. Al Ahli and Qatar have four and two titles respectively. Lekhwiya and Umm Salal have both one the competition once. 

The final was a successful conclusion to Al Sadd's season. They came in second place in the league with 61 points from 26 matches. Al Sadd edged Al Rayyan in the league as well, who came in third place with 51 points. The two sides met three times in the season, all of which Al Sadd won. One of them was a 5-0 win for Al Sadd, and another 4-1. (QNA)