The Future Falcons lost to Espanyol by a scoreline of three goals to two, at their home ground in Salou, in group 4 of Al Abtal Cup.
The Spanish team started the match strongly, winning the ball back from the Future Falcons in their own half, resulting in Arnau opening the scoring early in the first minutes. The Saudi team tried to settle into the game, and their response came quickly when, in the 12th minute, Marwan Al Yami managed to equalise off a corner kick.
The battle between the two teams remained intense until the 38th minute, when Arnau took advantage of a misplaced clearance by goalkeeper Musaed Alshammari, winning the ball back for his team and calmly slotting it into the net to restore his team’s lead and score his second goal of the match. Soon after that, the first half ended with two goals to one to Español.
The Future Falcons began the second half strongly, managing to equalise in the 53rd minute with a powerful long-range strike from Jawad Alhabib that the Español goalkeeper Roko could do nothing about. However, the away team struck back once again shortly after, again from Arnau himself. In the 55th minute, the forward capitalised on a poor clearance by the Saudi goalkeeper and fired a powerful shot from outside the box that found the back of the net.
The Future Falcons pushed forward once again in search of an equaliser. Ali Qazwani broke through the defensive line and nearly found himself one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but pressure from the defender at the very last moment caused him to fire wide of the target. The Saudi team continued to look for a way through, including a dangerous attempt by Ali Almaki in the closing minutes, which the goalkeeper only just managed to push onto the post. The match ended with the score three goals to two in favour of Espanyol.
