Doha, Qatar: l Rayyan's Qatar Stars League title challenge suffered an unexpected jolt on Friday when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Al Khor.
Tiago Bezerra scored for Al Khor in the 55th minute, while Yohan Boli netted Al Rayyan’s goal in the 68th minute.
Al Rayyan moved to 32 points, but they dropped two crucial points that will have a strong bearing on their final position as they are strong title contenders along with leaders Al Duhail and reigning champions Al Sadd.
Al Duhail are on 33 points and can move further away from Rayyan with a victory against Al Wakrah on Saturday, while Al Sadd can move ahead of Rayyan into second if they beat Umm Salal.
For Al Khor, it was a valuable point in their bid to survive in the top flight. They are now on 11 points.
Al Rayyan had 69 per cent possession of the ball and forced 13 corner kicks as against Al Khor’s two, to underline their domination.
Yacine Brahimi, Rodrigo Tabata and Abdulaziz Hatem pulled The Lions’ strings from the middle as Yohan Boli spearheaded their challenge.
At the other end, Tiago, Ahmed Hammoudan and January recruit Lucca Borges led Al Khor’s charge.
After a barren first half, Tiago put Al Khor ahead as he cashed in a faulty clearance by rival goalkeeper Fahad Younis by shooting into the goal with a bicycle kick.
Al Khor could have doubled the lead soon after that, but Hammoudan hit against the post after rounding the goalkeeper.
Boli then pulled one back for Al Rayyan with a header.
Al Rayyan’s Dame Traore received his marching orders deep into stoppage time after being booked for a second time.
It was the second time in successive weeks that Al Khor and Al Rayyan were facing off as the latter beat the former in the Ooredoo Cup quarterfinals in sudden death.
In the second match of the day, Qatar SC midfielder Mehdi Berrahma's late own goal handed Al Sailiya a 1-0 victory. The victory took Sailiya to sixth with 20 points while Qatar SC stay ninth on 16.
Source: dohastadiumplusqatar.com