Bourj FC ends the regular season with a 3-0 win over Shabab Al-Ghazieh, but not enough to reach the play-off

Sunday, 3 January 2021, 2.15 pm local time (12.15 pm UTC), Kfarjoz Stadium, Nabatieh, Lebanon, the 11th (last) round of the Lebanese Premier League regular season.

 Bourj starting line-up against Shabab Al-Ghazieh. Source: Bourj FC Facebook page

Bourj FC ended the regular season with a clear 3-0 win over Shabab Al-Ghazieh, but these three points were not enough to qualify for the play-off, as Safa also won, 5-0 over Salam Zgharta, as expected. Still, Bourj will start the play-out as leaders of this group including six teams which will fight to avoid relegation, and they are quite far from the worries of relegation. In fact, those who should be worried the most are exactly their opponents, Shabab Al-Ghazieh, who will start the play-out below the relegation line.
The match was technically played ”at home” for Bourj, but practically it was played at Kfarjoz Stadium, the home ground for Shabab Al-Ghazieh. It did not matter so much, as it has been already proved that Bourj plays better when away. They started the game very well, and Mohamad Kassem missed a first chance very early (3'). Bourj had the upper hand in the game, but they had difficulties in reaching the opposite goal. After two dangerous shots by Ibrahim Abou Hamdan, Zain Al Abidin Farran stole the ball from a defender, dribbled all his opponents, including the goalkeeper, and scored: 1-0 (29'). Any doubts regarding the winners were cleared towards the end of the first half, when another individual action, this time on the left side, by Hussein Al Outa, could only be stopped by a foul inside the box. The referee awarded a penalty, transformed by Mohamad Kassem: 2-0 (42').
In the second half, Bourj played without pressure, and scored again, by means of Hussein Al Outa, whose shot from the edge of the box went in: 3-0 (58'). Shabab Al-Ghazieh had one single goal opportunity, but their striker, one on one with Abdel Karim Saleh, had a shot that was saved by Bourj goalkeeper (72'). Not much happened towards the end, as Bourj concentrated more on possession than on scoring more goals, while Shabab Al-Ghazieh rarely had the ball.
Bourj: Abdel Karim Saleh - Hazma Abboud (Mohamad Al Dor 80'), Ahmed Al Khatib, Walid Ismail, Ibrahim Abou Hamdan - Mohamad Faour, Hassan Al Annan, Mohamad Kassem (Mohamed Nasser 49') - Zein Al Abidin Farran (Samih Damaj 77'), Fadel Antar, Hussein Al Outa. Manager: Fouad Hijazi.
Shabab Al Ghazieh: Ali Hajj Hassan - Ali Yazbek, Kassem Layla, Hussein Nasrallah, Ali Karaki, Moussa Atris (Yasser Serhal 63'), Akram Trad (Muhamad Ali Ghaddar 84'), Muhamad Ayoub, Hussein Jawad Khalifeh, Hassan Hammoud (Hassan Deeb 63'), Haidar Abou Zaid (Karim Mansour 46').
Referee: Muhamad Issa.
Yellow cards: Ali Hajj Hassan 56', Hussein Nasrallah 69'.

Full results and table at the end of the regular season:

Round 11 (2-3 January 2021)

 

Al Ahed – AC Tripoli 0-0

Shabab El Bourj – Tadamon Sour 1-1

Al Akhaa Al Ahly Aley – Ansar 0-2

Safa – Salam Zgharta 5-0

Bourj – Shabab Al-Ghazieh 3-0

Shabab Sahel – Nejmeh 1-2

 

Final table of the regular season

 

1	Ansar	11	9	0	2	28-5	27	Qualified for the play-off
2	Nejmeh	11	7	4	0	23-8	25	Qualified for the play-off
3	Shabab Sahel	11	7	3	1	13-3	24	Qualified for the play-off
4	Al Akhaa Al Ahly Aley	11	5	4	2	8-6	19	Qualified for the play-off
5	Al Ahed	11	4	5	2	13-10	17	Qualified for the play-off
6	Safa	11	5	1	5	17-17	16	Qualified for the play-off
7	Bourj	11	3	5	3	12-11	14	Qualified for the play-out
8	AC Tripoli	11	3	4	4	6-9	13	Qualified for the play-out
9	Shabab El Bourj	11	3	3	5	13-11	12	Qualified for the play-out
10	Tadamon Sour	11	1	4	6	3-9	7	Qualified for the play-out
11	Shabab Al-Ghazieh	11	2	0	9	6-21	6	Qualified for the play-out
12	Salam Zgharta	11	0	1	10	3-35	1	Qualified for the play-out

 

If two or more teams have the same number of points, the results of head-to-head matches between them are the main ranking criteria.