Al Sadd fight back to upstage Al Rayyan, go top of the table

Al Sadd staged a superb fightback to upset Al Rayyan 2-1 in Qatar Clasico to go top as Al Duhail were shocked 0-4 by Al Shamal in thrilling Qatar Stars League (QSL) matches on Saturday.

In the day’s other tie, bottom-placed Al Khor prevailed over Qatar SC 1-0 to boost their hopes to climb to the relegation play-off place.

Pushed back at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium by an Adam Bareiro goal in the 56th minute, Al Sadd rallied as Rafa Mujica fetched the equaliser in the 67th minute and soon Giovani scored their second goal in the 69th minute.

Their 15th win of the league so far (most by any team) took Al Sadd’s tally to 46 points at the top and two points clear of Al Duhail while Al Rayyan stood on 27 points.

Both Al Rayyan and Al Sadd produced a fast-paced game, charging at the rival citadel at every given opportunity. Al Rayyan were the first to attack as early as the seventh minute when a Murad Naji lob from the right was shot over by Hazem Shehata.

In the 26th minute, Al Rayyan’s Mohammed Surag was quick to pick on a pass, rush in and strike but the flag was up as he was clearly offside while breaking away outside the box.

In the 32nd minute, Al Sadd’s Akram Afif dashed into the striking zone but his flick was cut off by Rayyan goalkeeper Samy Beldi.

Two minutes later, Afif set up a pass inside the box for Claudio Luiz Leonel but he kicked the ball straight to Beldi.

Al Rayyan upped the ante in the second half as Roger Guedes caught a long free-kick ball inside the box on the right and while being in the clear he made a strike which was blocked by Al Sadd goalkeeper Meshaal Barsham but the ball on the ricochet fell to a waiting Bareiro, who put the ball into the net.

The Lions’ lead was, however, shortlived as Al Sadd rallied to strike soon as Afif made a back flip to initiate a fine move on the left for a running in Paulo Otavio to put across a cross for a leaping Mujica to make a telling header (1-1).

Two minutes later, Al Sadd fans were up waving the club flags as Pedro Miguel drilled in a powerful drive from the right for a vigorously a sliding-in Giovani to deflect the ball into an empty net.

Al Rayyan tried to make a comeback, but were held back by a strong Al Sadd defence. A Guedes dead-ball kick just before the finish missed the left post by inches, but alert Barsham was also at hand to foil the attempt.

Al Duhail’s hopes dashed
Mohammed Omar netted a brace as Al Shamal claimed an emphatic 4-0 victory against Al Duhail at the Abdullah Bin Khalifa Stadium. With just two more matches to the end of the season, Al Duhail’s loss has further thrown open the race for the league title, thereby making the next two fixtures even more crucial.

Mohammed’s brace came in the second minute and 46th minutes of play, while Mohamed al-Mannai (ninth minute) and Younes El Hannach (45+7 minute) added one each to move Al Shamal’s tally to 29 points.

Al Duhail, who came into the game as league leaders with a one-point advantage over second-placed Al Sadd, remained on 44 points. Al Shamal had a dream start to the match with an early goal coming their way in the second minute of play with Omar Mohamed powering home with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box after a fine assist from Younes Belhanda.

Things turned from bad to worse for Al Duhail as Al Shamal turned in their second goal of the night in the eighth minute, this time through al-Mannai, whose header from Omid Ebrahimi’s cross was poorly handled by goalkeeper Salah Hassan.

A stunned Al Duhail’s attempt at pulling one back almost immediately was thwarted with Benjamin Bourigeaud’s right-footed shot from the centre of the box, from an assist by Hakim Ziyech going inches higher than expected.

Al Shamal grew stronger with each passing minute, and they began pounding The Red Knights wall of defence relentlessly in search of more goals, which eventually came six minutes into added time through El Hannach, whose low but well-placed shot sailed straight into the right-hand bottom corner of Al Duhail’s net to ensure a comfortable 3-0 lead for the visitors going into half-time.

Al Duhail made a raft of changes at half-time with Ismael Mohammed coming in to replace Yousef Ayman, while Edmilson Junior was substituted for Luis Alberto, but the situation turned from bad to worse for the hosts with Al Shamal adding to their tally just immediately on resumption of the second half with Omar catching Al Duhail’s defence napping as he hit his second of the night, and his club’s fourth, with a low-driven shot from an assist by Ebrahimi.

The fourth goal seemed to take the wind off Al Duhail’s sail as they appeared to be playing only for time from then on before the referee finally put an end to the game minutes later.