Orlando Pirates concluded their pre-season tour of Spain with a narrow 3-2 defeat at the hands of Qatari Champions Al-Sadd at the Marbella Football Center in Málaga on Friday evening.
The Buccaneers fell behind 1-0 as early as the third minute through Hashim Ali’s well-taken shot beating Melusi Buthelezi after confusion in the Pirates defence.
That lead was however short-lived as Tshegofatso Mabasa struck twice in two minutes. The Bucs number 19 leveled matters in the eighth minute with a beautiful chip before grabbing his brace a minute later to give the Soweto outfit a 2-1 advantage.
Miguel Timm had a shot at goal in the 36th minute but it was not strong enough to trouble Saad Al Dosari in goals.
Five minutes from the interval, it was 2-2. Ecuadorian Gonzalo Plata sending Buthelezi the wrong way as both teams headed into dressing room all square.
The Qatari champions went 3-2 up in the 53th minute as Plata got his brace after a looped pass from Paulo Octavio.
In the 75th minute, Pirates thought they had made it 3-3 through Thuso Moleleki but he was flagged for offside.
Pirates’ 19-year-old goalkeeper Bayanda Zulu kept the scores unchanged when he made an easy save from range in the 77th minute.
Gilberto pulled his shot narrowly wide with Saad beaten in the 84th minute missing the target.
The match ended in Al-Sadd’s favour as Pirates concluded their pre-season tour with a single win, two draws and suffered just one loss, before they head back to South Africa.
