Saturday, 17 April 2021, 4 pm local time (1 pm UTC), Fouad Chehab Stadium, Jounieh, Lebanon, the 5th (last) round of the play-out stage, Lebanese Premier League.
Bourj FC needed to win their last league match this season against AC Tripoli in order to preserve their first place in the final play-out table (and seventh overall), given that Shabab El Bourj had a much easier game, facing last classified Salam Zgharta. In case of a draw, Bourj FC would have almost surely finished second, behind Shabab El Bourj (which eventually won 4-0), and in case they lost, they would have finished third, because their opponents, AC Tripoli, would have overtaken them in the table.
So, there was not much at stake, except for an honorable final position in the league table for the 2020-2021 season. Which still means something for the people, supporters, staff and players alike. The game was not very spectacular overall, but there were several good moments, especially in the first half. Bourj FC had several fast attacks, which could have ended in a goal, but Mohamad Kassem (13'), Mohamad Nasser (29') and Fadel Antar (35') missed the opener. AC Tripoli replied very well, and the biggest goal opportunity of the entire match belonged to their striker, which could not score from an excellent position, and gave the chance to goalkeeper Abdel Karim Saleh to save in a one-on-one situation (40'). Right after this big chance by AC Tripoli, Bourj FC score the only goal of the match, as Fadel Antar intercepted a careless pass of a defender to Tripoli's goalkeeper and finished: 1-0 (41').
Fadel Antar (left) was again decisive for Bourj FC. Source: elmaestrosport.com
In the second half, the game was much less interesting, as Bourj FC struggled mainly to preserve their advantage, while AC Tripoli were unable to create real goal-scoring opportunities. The clearest goal chance came again after a similar mistake of a Tripoli defender, whose pass back to the goalkeeper was again intercepted by Fadel Antar, but this time Mustafa Matar saved the shot (56'). The match became more and more fragmented and nothing of importance happened towards the end.
Bourj: Abdel Karim Saleh - Hamza Abboud, Khodor Hallak, Ahmad Al Khatib, Walid Ismail - Mohamad El Faour, Mohamad Kassem, Ibrahim Abou Hamdan (Hassan Ibrahim 68') - Zein Al Abidin Farran (Hussein Al Outa 59'), Fadel Antar, Mohamad Nasser (Samih Damaj 68').
Tripoli: Mustafa Matar - Ahmed Maghrabi, Mohamad Maqsoud, Khaled Al Jassem (Khader Al Ahmaj 46'), Abdullah Maghrabi, Alex Alrl, Alaa Ezzo (Jihad Eid 65'), Omar Khayed, Hassan Qaryatum (Abd Al Razzaq Dkarmenji 65'), Saeed Al Ali (Mohamad Omar Maqsoud 77'), Ibrahim Al Mahmoud.
Referee: Kazem Al Khansa.
Yellow cards: Zein Al Abidin Farran, Mohamad Kassem, Khodor Hallak - Ahmed Maghrabi.
The teams must already think about the next competition, the Lebanese FA Cup, which will start on the 29th of April 2021, with only 16 teams - the 12 teams of the Premier League and the first four teams of the Second Division. In the first round, Bourj will face the winners of the Second Division, AC Sporting Beirut, while AC Tripoli will play against potential league champions Nejmeh. The play-off decider will be played in the last round between the first two classified, Ansar and Nejmeh, on the 24th of April.
Results of the last round and final table of the play-out stage:
Round 5 (17 April 2021)
Tadamon Sour – Shabab Al-Ghazieh 1-1
Bourj – AC Tripoli 1-0
Shabab El Bourj – Salam Zgharta 4-0
Final table
|
7 |
Bourj |
16 |
5 |
8 |
3 |
18-13 |
23 |
|
|
8 |
Shabab El Bourj |
16 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
22-14 |
23 |
|
|
9 |
AC Tripoli |
16 |
5 |
4 |
7 |
11-15 |
19 |
|
|
10 |
Tadamon Sour |
16 |
3 |
7 |
6 |
7-11 |
16 |
|
|
11 |
Shabab Al-Ghazieh |
16 |
3 |
2 |
11 |
12-26 |
11 |
Relegation to the Second Division |
|
12 |
Salam Zgharta |
16 |
0 |
1 |
15 |
6-50 |
1 |
Relegation to the Second Division |
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.
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