Al Gharafa beat Al Arabi to get back to winning ways

Al Gharafa secured a 3-1 victory over Al Arabi at Al Thumama Stadium in the Qatar Stars League on Friday. Al Gharafa’s goals were scored by Yacine Brahimi, Joselu and Saif El-Din Fadlallah, while Abdullah Maarefi scored for Al Arabi.

Gharafa maintained its third place in the table with 40, while Al Arabi dropped to ninth place with 23 points. Al Gharafa was the better side at the start of the match, threatening Al Arabi’s goal.

The first chance came for the Panthers when Brahimi penetrated the area before firing a powerful shot that was blocked by Al Arabi goalkeeper Mohamed Ibrahim in the 18th minute. Spaniard Joselu then attempted a cross, but his header went over the bar in the 22nd minute.

Ahmed Alaa led a swift counterattack for Al Arabi, passing to Abdullah Maarefi who dribbled past goalkeeper Khalifa Abubaker before firing home to give Arabi the lead in the 32nd minute.

Al Gharafa then tried to find the net against Al Arabi, leading a coordinated attack that saw Spaniard Joselu fire a powerful shot that was blocked by the goalkeeper before the ball returned to Yacine Brahimi, who placed it in the far corner with a brilliant shot, scoring the equaliser in the 45th minute.

Arabi appeared with a different face at the beginning of the second half, throwing their offensive weight behind them in search of an opening goal. Wassim Kadari almost scored when he capitalised on a cross from the Spaniard Rodrigo, heading it over the bar in the 59th minute.

Despite Arabi’s improved attacking threat, Al Gharafa quickly regained control, imposing their advantage and searching for the lead through Joselu, who tapped in Rabah Boussaf’s cross in the 76th minute.

Al Gharafa extended their lead with a third goal after a counterattack, with Fadlallah surprising the goalkeeper who was advancing from his goal and firing the ball from a long distance into the net in the 81st minute.

Earlier, Al Ahli came from two goals down to defeat Al Shahania 3-2 at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium. Idrissa Doumbia scored a brace (76th minute and 90+2 minute) after Driss Fettouhi had scored in the 69th minute as The Brigadiers moved closer to a top-four finish with their 35 points tally, while Al Shahania, who got both of their goals from Pelle van Amersfoort (30th and 50th minutes) remained on 23 points.

Erik Exposito missed the opportunity of hitting the net early for Al Ahli when his right-footed shot from 25 yards in the 11th minute went narrowly wide before Hamad Mansour had a near miss 10 minutes later.

Despite Al Ahli’s repeated attempts, it was the hosts who had the luck of getting the opener in the 30th minute through Van Amersfoort, who finished off a brilliant move by Alhassan Koroma in the final third with a right-footed shot that caught goalkeeper Yazan Naim flat-footed.

Al Shahania doubled the lead five minutes into the second half with Van Amersfoort once again hitting the bull’s eye from the centre of the box after impressive teamwork that ended with Francesco Antonucci laying the pass to the Dutch attacking midfielder to score.

A third goal almost ensued three minutes later after Moameen Mutasem hijacked the ball in the centre circle before going on an overlapping run, which he unfortunately could not translate into a goal as his left-footed shot from the left side of the box missed to the left.

Al Ahli pulled one back from a set piece in the 69th minute through Fettouhi, who perfectly curled in the resulting free-kick after a foul on Exposito by Mohammed Sayyar.

The game took on a more interesting tone after the goal as The Brigadiers went in search of the much-needed equaliser which they eventually got in the 76th minute through Doumbia, who only had to tap in from close range after some beautiful football wizardry from Draxler.

Al Ahli finally turned the game on its head in two minutes of added time as they went from two goals down to a one-goal lead with Doumbia getting his brace of the night, again from a Draxler assist, ensuring the match ended in the visitors’ favour.

Meanwhile, a Farid Boulaya strike saw Al Wakrah edge Umm Salal 1-0 in a crucial match at the Grand Hamad Stadium. Algerian midfielder Boulaya struck from about 15 yards outside the box in the 19th minute of the match to dash the rivals’ hopes.

The crucial win took Al Wakrah’s points tally to seventh place with 24 points. The defeat, meanwhile, left Umm Salal stranded on 15 points, battling in the relegation zone with bottom-placed Al Khor.