Article by Romeo Ene – Published on Monday, 19 January 2026, 21:11 / Updated on Monday, 19 January 2026 21:11
Al Arabi, the Qatari team coached by Cosmin Contra (50 years old), defeated Al-Sadd, trained by Roberto Mancini (61 years old), score 5-0, in the Qatar Cup!
The former national team coach continues to perform very well on the bench of the Qatari team, which he took over from October 2025.
The fate of the game had been decided since the break, when Al Arabi was already 4-0 up.
Cosmin Contra, sensational victory in Qatar, against Al-Sadd
The success is all the more important as Al Arabi is in 5th place in the league, while Al-Sadd is 2nd. Following the success, Al Arabi climbed to 3rd place with 19 points after 10 matches.
On the other hand, Mancini's team is in 20th, the last position, with only 5 accumulated points.
Former Lyon striker Toko Ekambi opened the scoring in the 4th minute. Gerard Hernandez doubled Contra's lead in the 19th minute. Salem Reda (23') and Mohamed Gouda (34') also scored before the break.
Joao Darros set the final score in the 76th minute, 5-0 for Al Arabi!
Roberto Mancini has had an extremely rich career. The Italian coached Fiorentina, Lazio, Inter, Manchester City or the Italian national team throughout his career.
His annual net salary for each of the following years will be 8 million euros.
Al Arabi is in penultimate place in the championship, when Cosmin Contra arrived. It is currently in 5th place out of 12 teams.
Al Arabi has won the title 7 times in Qatar, but never this century. The most recent title dates back to 1997.
Poli Timisoara, Getafe, Petrolul, Dinamo, the Romanian national team, Al-Ittihad and Damac are some of the clubs that Contra has coached in his career.
