Al Sadd got back to winning ways as they handed Al Gharafa a 4-2 defeat in the Qatar Stars League at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Thursday.
The defending champions, who were hammered 1-5 by Al Duhail in the previous round, hit the ground running from the word go with Pedo Miguel (fourth minute), Cristo Gonzalez (7th), Akram Afif (27th) and Hassan al-Haydos (90+9th) doing the scoring for them.
In reply, Al Gharafa got their goals through Joselu (42th) and Yacine Brahimi (59th) but The Cheetahs could not force their way through despite a 3-2 scoreline for a major part of the game. It was Al Sadd’s third win of the season and came after two back-to-back defeats, taking their tally to nine points to be fourth in the standings while Al Gharafa are now six after a second loss with eight points. Al Duhail are the leaders with 15 points.
Al Sadd celebrated their win with a dying moment goal created by the mercurial Afif breaking through a string of defenders before al-Haydos rattled the net much to the delight of the home team fans.
Earlier, Al Arabi came from being a goal and a man down to beat Al Rayyan 2-1 at the Al Thumama Stadium. Substitute Yousef Msakni restored parity for The Dream Team in the 61st minute after Achraf Bencharki had given Al Rayyan the lead in the 16th minute before Marco Verratti put the icing on the cake in the 85th minute as Al Arabi recorded their first win of the season.
With the win, Al Arabi now have seven points, while Al Rayyan remained on six points. The Dream Team, now under American-English coach Anthony Hudson, got what seemed to be a dream start in the seventh minute after they were initially awarded a penalty, after a VAR check, with Ahmed Alaaeldin adjudged to have been fouled by Al Rayyan goalkeeper Samy Beldi. Seven minutes later, Al Rayyan drew first blood as Bencharki nodded the ball home from an unmarked position. Al Arabi were reduced to 10-man in the 24th minute after Alaaeldin was giving the marching orders for a hard tackle on Hazem Shehata, which necessitated the player being helped off the field for further treatment.
Al Arabi got the equaliser in the 61st minute with a Msakni header after goalkeeper Beldi mishandled a set-piece by Rodrigo. Al Arabi got the winner five minutes before regulation time through Verratti, who fired home a low-driven shot from the edge of the box to the left-hand corner of Al Rayyan goal.
Meanwhile, Al Wakrah made their way into the top four with a 3-1 victory over Al Khor at the Al Janoub Stadium.
Ricardo Gomes scored a brace for the winners, striking in 21st & 62nd minutes while Ayoub Assal found the net in 45+2 minute. For Al Khor, their only goal came from Sofiane Hanni in the 50th minute.
This was The Blue Wave’s second successive win and the third of the league this season, leapfrogging them to second place (from being fifth before the match) in the standings with a tally of 11 points. Al Khor in contrast are 10th in the rankings with 3 points having suffered their third defeat.