FOOTBALL – Riffa and Al Ahli were both triumphant last night as the curtain came down on matchweek two in the 2026-27 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League.
Riffa were rampant in their resounding 5-1 victory over Manama with five different players getting onto the scoresheet at Al Ahli Club Stadium in Mahooz.
Hashem Sayed Issa, meanwhile, scored right after the hour-mark to help lift Ahli to a tight 1-0 win over Hidd at the National Stadium in Riffa.
On target for Riffa in their big win were Brazilian professionals Rodrigo Yuri Pires Franca and Samuel Conceicao Toscas, Serbian import Dejan Georgievic,
Algerian Tayeb Meziani, and Bahrain senior men’s football national team star Mahdi Abduljabbar.
Franca opened their account in the 12th minute from just outside the six-yard box after teammate Wellington Moreira delivered a cross from the left that was not cleared.
Georgievic then made it 2-0 just two minutes on after tapping in from the goal mouth off a fine cross from the right by Sayed Redha Issa.
Manama got a goal back four minutes later when Frenchman Zachary Marvin Hadji squeezed into the box and was found by Cape Verde teammate Rivaldo Boaventura Morais.
But Riffa regained their two-goal cushion in the 30th minute when Toscas guided the ball home from the face of goal off a Franca free-kick.
Riffa later added to their advantage after the break when Issa supplied another brilliant assist, this time to Abduljabbar in the 75th minute.
His through-pass was received by Abduljabbar in the area with only Manama’s Bosnian custodian Slavisa Bogdanovic to beat.
He made no mistake with his single touch from close range, making it 4-1.
Meziani then applied the nail in the coffin in the first minute of second-half stoppage time. His shot from inside the box took a slight deflection before going into the net.
The result earned Riffa their second straight victory to begin the new season as they tied fellow-title contenders Al Khaldiya atop the table on six points apiece.
Manama suffered their first defeat as they remained on a point in the bottom half of the standings.
In Ahli’s win yesterday, Hashem Sayed Issa supplied the game’s lone goal in the 66th minute.
He found the net from inside the area off an assist from Inters Auxence Gui. He rounded Hidd’s Jordanian defender Bara Sami Marie before firing in past opposing goalkeeper Abdulla Hassan Althawadi.
That was enough to earn Ahli the full three points with their first victory of the new campaign.
They improved to four points in fourth place, just ahead of Hidd who stayed on three after being dealt their first defeat.
The third round of the 2026-27 Nasser bin Hamad Bahrain Premier Football League is scheduled to be played from this Thursday to Saturday.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh