Al Duhail scored a convincing 5-0 win over Al Arabi to regain a three-point lead at the top of Qatar Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday.
Homam al-Ameen netted a brace (fifth and 16th minutes), while Lucas Verissimo (ninth minute), Benjamin Bourigeaud (26th minute) and Luis Alberto (65th minute) chipped in with a goal each as Duhail extended their lead to 25 points – three ahead of Al Sadd. Al Arabi, meanwhile, are just above the relegation zone in 10th place with 10 points.
Al Duhail almost took the lead within 30 seconds of the opening whistle when Alberto saw his right-footed shot from the centre of the box blocked. From thereon, it was one-way traffic, with coach Christophe Galtier’s men dominating and dictating the proceedings from all angles of the field. It was soon a matter of when and not if the goals would come and the first answer came in the fifth minute, with Homam banging home a long-range left-footer from an acutely-tight angle to open the door for the goal rain.
Four minutes later, Verissimo doubled the lead for the visiting team with a glancing header from Bourigeaud’s corner kick.
By the 16th minute, any hope of Al Arabi taking anything away from the game was extinguished as Homam hit his brace of the night with a low-driven but powerful left-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner.
Al Arabi were lucky not to concede the fourth goal in the 21st minute when Veríssimo’s shot from more than 35 yards, following a Karim Boudiaf assist, was almost finding the target only to be off by just a few inches.
Al Duhail were only delayed, but not denied as their fourth of the night came five minutes later through Bourigeaud, who perfectly finished a sublime assist by Ismail Mohammed with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the high centre of the goal.
Al Duhail’s fifth goal came in the 65th minute, with Almoez Ali helping Alberto as the Spanish attacking midfielder banged in a right-footed shot from the centre of the box to the bottom left corner.
A desperate Al Arabi were reduced to 10 men with six minutes to the end of regulation time in the encounter after Yousef Msakni got the marching orders for a dangerous play with his initial yellow card upgraded to red after a VAR review.
Meanwhile, Al Ahli climbed back to third place in the table after a 3-0 win over Umm Salal at Grand Hamad Stadium. The victorious team got all their goals in the first half through Erik Expisito (29th minute) and Idrissa Doumbia (36th minute) after Antonio Mance had scored an own goal in the 10th minute. The result extended Al Ahli’s points tally to 21, while Umm Salal are eighth on 11 points.
Al Ahli got off to a dream start with Umm Salal’s Mance unwittingly giving them the lead when he mistakenly turned a header into his own net following a set piece by Driss Fettouhi in the 10th minute.
The Orange Fortress fought like a warrior from thereon with the hope of equalising but tried as much as they attempted; it was the Brigadiers who added to their tally in the 29th minute, with an unmarked Exposito having all the time in the world to nod home from the center of the box an inch-perfect cross by Islam Yaseen to the consternation of the hosts.
With a possibility of an embarrassing defeat staring them in the face, Umm Salal made a substitution in the 35th minute in order to shore up their defence with full back Omar Yahya coming in for Ali Said, but the efforts appeared to have been fruitless as Al Ahli got their third of the match almost immediately, with Doumbia registering his name on the scorers sheet in the 36th minute after outwitting two Umm Salal’s defender before slotting home a left-shooted shot from the centre of the box that left Umm Salal’s goalkeeper Landing Badji stunned.
Oussama Tannane came very close to reducing the deficit for Umm Salal in the 67th minute, but his power-packed left-footed shot from a set piece just outside of the box disappointingly rattled the bar on its way out.
After several efforts, a resolute Umm Salal appeared to have gotten one back through Victor Lekhal, who nodded home from a corner kick by Tannane, two minutes to the end of regulation time. But a lengthy VAR review, however, put paid to that with the referee signalling an infringement against Al Ahli’s goalkeeper Marwan Badreldin prior to the goal as Al Ahli’s three-goal lead remained untouched, to the disappointment of Umm Salal’s fans and bench as the match came to an end.
In the other match of the day, two stoppage-time goals saw Al Shahania beat Qatar SC 3-1 at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium. Pelle van Amersfoort (22nd minute and 90+3 minute) and Lotfi Majder (90+10 minute) scored for the winners while Qatar SC’s only goal came from Sebastian Soria in the 70th minute.
The result saw Al Shahania leapfrog to four places to 11th spot with 11 points, ahead of Umm Salal on goal difference. Qatar SC slid a rung to 11th place with 10 points to their credit.