Al Sadd, the reigning champions, defeated Al Wakrah 3-0 on Sunday to move up to second position in the Ooredoo Stars League (OSL). Rafa Mujica gave the reigning champions a brace in the 24th and 86th minutes, and Akram Afif added an additional strike in the 59th. Al Sadd moved ahead of Al Duhail towards the top of the league with their fifth victory of the season, bringing their total to 15 points.
After Akram Afif scored the goal against Al Wakrah, he went on to use Kylian Mbappe’s celebration, which he used during the El Clasico against FC Barcelona. However, Kylian Mbappe’s goal was disallowed and Afif copied the Real Madrid star’s hand gestures as well during his goal celebration, in a way to mock the France national team skipper.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
— KinG £ (@xKGx__) October 27, 2024
Akram Afifi celebrates the same celebration as Mbappe's disallowed goal, with sarcasm 😂😂😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/4gt4QX8qwh
Akrim Afif set to win the AFC Player of the Year award
After an incredible 2023–24 season, Qatari talisman Akram Afif may become the first man from his country to be awarded the AFC Player of the Year award twice. The 2019 winner, who has been nominated for a second time, will hope to win the award again during the AFC Annual Awards Seoul 2023, which will be held tomorrow night, October 29, at Kyung Hee University's Grand Peace Palace.
Earlier this year, Afif led Qatar to a spectacular AFC Asian Cup™ defense, winning the Most Valuable Player as well as Yili Top Scorer awards. He also won the title of Best Player during the Qatar Stars League after leading Al Sadd SC to a league record 17th championship.
The erratic forward will treasure the opportunity to become just the third player who has received the prize more than once, behind Hidetoshi Nakata of Japan (1997, 1998) and Server Djeparov of Uzbekistan (2008, 2011). However, the 27-year-old will have fierce competition from Yazan Al Naimat as well as Seol Young-woo, who both said they were thrilled to be nominated.