Qatar- Al Duhail coach hails Olunga wonder show against Esteghlal

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) AFC Al Duhail SC head coach Sabri Lamouchi praised Kenyan forward Michael Olunga whose hat-trick steered the Qatari side to an exciting 4-3 win against Islamic Republic of Iran's Esteghlal FC in the 2021 AFC Champions League on Wednesday. Man-of-the-match Olunga struck in the 10th, 27th and 85th minutes in an absorbing Group C tie which saw both sides exchanging leads at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium. It was a crucial win for Al Duhail as the win meant they leapfrogged Esteghlal into top spot on seven points, one ahead of the Iranians at the midway stage. An overjoyed Lamouchi paid tribute to Olunga's masterclass. 'I can't find the words to describe this exciting match and it is not easy to talk about it, said Lamouchi in the postmatch press conference. 'I want to thank the players for t h e i r e x c e l l e n t performance. 'Olunga deserves, of course, to be the man of the match. He's a special player and his presence has helped us have a lot of attacking options, said Lamouchi of the 2020 J1 League's top scorer who now leads the 2021 AFC Champions League scoring charts with four goals. 'Tonight we conceded three goals but we managed to get our heads together and recover mentally. In the second half, we tried our best to maintain the strengths of the players and that's why we didn't have a similar performance to the first half. Esteghlal FC head coach Farhad Majidi said both teams had an excellent match but felt Al Duhail's good balance tilted the tie in their favour. 'The two sides had a very good match today and it was a tactical and physical contest, said Majidi. The two will square off again tomorrow.MENAFN23042021000063011010ID1101969162