The Lebanese league is never boring, but what took place this Sunday at the Winners Stage round match between Al Ansar and Al Ahed went too far.
It was the last matchday of the season with Al Ahed and Nejmeh both in with a chance of the title.
Al Ansar was there to prevent the club’s bitter rival from winning a second consecutive title - and ninth in the past decade.
Lebanese football, just like Lebanon as a whole, occasionally suffers from sectarian tensions.
The last day of the 2022/23 season was a devastating reminder of what football in this country can become.
A mess in Lebanon 🇱🇧 Premier League: a dramatic match between Al Ansar and Al Ahed ended in a 3-2 victory for the latter in the 96th minute. Fans took it hard. Photos remind the beginning of last decade, where violence was ripping Lebanese football apart.
— Uri Levy (@Levyninho) March 14, 2023
📸 Fadi Marak©️ pic.twitter.com/FidO0hAJFs
Al Ahed, the champion, is the Shiite club of Beirut, reportedly well connected to Hezbollah. At the same time, Al Ansar is the Sunni club, and has strong links to the prominent Hariri family. Nejmeh is the all-Lebanese club, with a strong and diverse Lebanese identity.
Al Ahed played Al Ansar in a game that had an intense atmosphere even before kick-off.
Lebanon is suffering from wild inflation and a financial crisis, which some consider Hezbollah responsible for.
This only inflamed pre-match tensions between the two sides.
Al Ahed went 1-0 up just before half time, with a goal by Lebanese international Rabih Ataya.
In the 62nd minute, a goal by Al Ansar's Nader Matar was bizarrely cancelled out by the match's Omani referee, Khaled Shaqsi, and Ansar's fans started to protest.
Two minutes later, the side of the pitch was packed with torn chairs, and stadium seats and objects were thrown from the Ansar stand - targeting the referee for decisions they felt had benefitted Al Ahed
Police and the army gathered in front of the Ansar stand, and the game was stopped.
The mess was everywhere. Ansar's president, Nabil Bader, was furious with the referee but, at the same time, tried to cool down his side’s supporters.
Ansar fans and Al Ahed's ultras threw flares and pyrotechnics on the pitch - it was complete chaos.
Yet, after a 14 minute delay, the referee restarted the match.
Ansar players played with great motivation, and eventually won a penalty in the 84th minute after Haj Malik was fouled in the box.
Hassan Maatouk converted the penalty and made it 1-1, and Ansar's stand exploded. But this was just the beginning of the drama.
In the 87th minute, Al Ahed went up 2-1 via a Mohammed Nasser goal, who beautifully scored from inside the box.
The yellow fans in the stand were celebrating the goal, as a sign showing 16 minutes of extra time.
Four minutes into stoppage time, Hassan Maatouk made it 2-2, after confusion in Ahed's box.
Was that it? Guess again. Ahed won a dubious free kick two minutes later just outside Ansar's area.
Scottish striker Lee Erwin, formerly of Leeds United and Tractor Sazi, took the shot and nailed the ball into the back of Ansar's net.
It was 3-2 to Ahed, and the championship title celebrations at the Dakhiah, the Shiite quarter of Beirut, started.
Ansar fans returned to throwing seats, rocks and anything they could find at the pitch - no one could stop them.
The match, and the Lebanese season, ended with stadium seats on the rise, fans protesting and cursing, and an Omani referee who hadn't even blown the final whistle.
The images from the Beirut Municipal Stadium looked similar to those from more than a decade ago, that forced the Lebanese FA to play the league behind closed doors.
While no injuries or casualties were reported this time, Lebanese football fans will be hoping that next season will start as usual.
🇱🇧 Al Ansar vs Al Ahed 12/03/2023
— 101% ULTRAS (@101ULTRAS) March 12, 2023
Home fans invaded the pitch after referees bad decisions. pic.twitter.com/Or5yGkCi5I
The young lions are through to the U20 Asian Cup final
Yesterday, two surprises occurred in the U20 AFC Asian Cup in Uzbekistan, in games that determine the tournament's final.
Iraq beat Japan on penalties after the match ended 2-2 after 120 minutes, and Uzbekistan, the hosts, beat South Korea in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw.
The Iraqi journey to the final also saw a dramatic victory in their quarter-final against Iran.
The match seemed to be heading to a shootout too, but in added time Ali Jassim scored for the young Mesopotamian Lions, sending them to the semi-final and guaranteeing them a spot in the U20 World Cup in Indonesia in May.
Jassim is developing as Iraq's new star, and in the semi-final against Japan he scored once and assisted the second.
Iraq will now prepare for the final against the Uzbek hosts this Saturday.
And they’ll be looking forward to the draw for the U20 World Cup at the end of the month, where Iraq could potentially be drawn in a group against the USA or Israel.
Edited by Alex Smith
Thumbnail photo by Fadi Marak
🇮🇶 #Iraq will face hosts 🇺🇿 @UzbekistanFA in the Final of the #AFCU20 Asian Cup on Saturday.
— Soccer Iraq (@SoccerIraq) March 15, 2023
Our Lions will be playing for their 6th title, having last won the trophy in 2000. 🏆
The two teams met earlier in the group stage, with the hosts winning 1-0. ⚽ pic.twitter.com/I3EKYHHBrn
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