Duhail beat Gharafa to maintain one-point lead over Sadd

Al Duhail continued to hold their slender 1-point lead over defending champions Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League 2024-2025 season.

On an evening of four simultaneous kick-offs on Saturday, Al Duhail beat Al Gharafa 2-0 at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium while Al Sadd drubbed Al Wakrah 3-0 on their home turf at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Meanwhile, Al Ahli kept up their run in the top four as they beat Al Rayyan 1-0 at Al Thumama Stadium. Al Arabi were held to a goalless draw by Qatar SC at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Two goals on either half saw Al Duhail get the better of The Cheetahs as Almoez Ali (15th minute) and Ismael Mohammed (87th minute) scored for the Red Knights to extend their tally to 44 points while Al Gharafa stayed on 37.

Al Duhail could have gone one up as early as the third minute of play if not for Youssef Ayman being caught slightly offside.

Nine minutes later, Al Gharafa were forced to make an early substitution due to an injury to Ferjani Sassi, with the Tunisian central midfielder having to make way for

Within three minutes of the newcomer, Al Duhail registered the opener through Ali whose right-footed low but powerful shot from the edge of the box caught goalkeeper Khalifa Ndiaye napping.

Michael Olunga would have doubled the lead in the 29th minute had his left-footed shot from the centre of the box been a little bit more precise, while Homam El Amin also missed the bull’s-eye by the slightest of margins four minutes later.

Al Gharafa were more determined in the second half and they almost got their equaliser three minutes post break had not the offside flag been raised with Rabeh Boussafi sight on goal.

Fabricio Díaz’s right-footed shot from more than 35 yards in the 51st minute also went narrowly wide.

Al Duhail ensured the match was beyond Al Gharafa’s reach in the 87th minute with a fantastic teamwork play that resulted in Ismael Mohammed having the easiest job of putting the ball into the net after being fed a diagonal pass from the left side of the box by Homam Ahmed, who had earlier received a brilliant pass from Paulo Edmilson, to the delight of the Red Knights fans and bench.

Meanwhile Akram Afif scored off two penalties in Al Sadd’s 3-0 win over Al Wakrah at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

The skipper converted from the spot in the 72nd and 86th minutes of the match, while Youcef Atal added another goal to the scoreline in stoppage time (90+10 minute) as The Wolves collected the three maximum points to keep up their chase with league leaders Al Duhail.

Al Sadd are now on 43 points, still 1-point behind Al Duhail, while Al Wakrah, suffering their tenth loss of the league, stay in 10th place with 21 points. Al Sadd held sway from the start and came close to scoring twice in the opening half.

In the 20th minute, a Mohamed Camara kick just wide of right post while in the 35th minute Afif missed out on what would have been a fine strike.

Afif made a brilliant rock and roll effort as he first took the ball on his head and later made a run down to strike but while the ball beat a diving Al Wakrah goalkeeper Saoud Mubarak al-Khater to his left, it went on to hit the bottom of right post to go away.

Al Sadd’s efforts continued in the second session but they failed to break the deadlock until late when a corner kick from Afif saw Pedro Miguel head the ball home but the flag for off side was up.

The referee however had a VAR and caught a foul before Miguel made the header and a penalty was awarded. Afif stepped up and coolly converted putting the ball into the left side as the goalkeeper dived the other way.

Fourteen minutes later, Al Wakrah erred again as Hamdy Fathy brought down Afif with a wrong tackle inside the box and Al Sadd won a penalty again. Afif again repeated his act for his side to double the lead.

There was more joy for Al Sadd as Afif set up another making a fine pass from inside left to substitute Ali Asadalla, who set the ball up for a dashing in Atal to go on and score the team’s third goal of the match.


Exposito scores for Al Ahli

Eric Exposito struck in the 53rd minute as Al Ahli beat a ten-man Al Rayyan at the Al Thumama Stadium.

Julian de Sart of Al Rayyan was given the marching order in the 72nd minute of the match. The win saw Al Ahli’s tally swell to 32 points to be fourth in the standings while Al Rayyan are fifth with 27 points.