Chaos reigns in Lebanese Premier League showdown

Season finale overshadowed by violent scenes as Al Ahed claim ninth title

- JOHN DUERDEN

For once, a season in Lebanon was approaching the finish line with the focus on the football. Empty stadiums, crowd violence and financial issues have all come to dominate the football headlines, particularly since the pandemic, but this season it seemed that the12-team top flight was in for a normal end to the campaign. But it was not to be.

Al Ansar and Al Ahed met on the last day of the season with both having a chance of lifting the trophy at the end of the 90 minutes. However the title decider never finished and, once again, the headlines at the end of the season were negative.

Going into the game, Al Ansar needed a win to become champions for a record 15th time while Ahed needed just a point for number nine. This was the third campaign with the current system that sees the12 teams playing each other once and then splitting into two groups of six and then playing again twice. It seemed to work out perfectly in producing a final-day decider. Bosses at the federation knew that it was going to be a highly-charged affair, drafting in a referee from Oman to take charge of the big game.