Al Sadd defeated champions Al Duhail 3-1 in their 2018-19 season QNB Stars League match on Tuesday.
The game was rescheduled from Week 9 due to Al Sadd’s AFC Champions League semifinal against Persepolis of Iran.
A Lucas Mendes own goal in the ninth minute, substitute Salem Al Hajri’s thumping shot in the 89th and Baghdad Bounedjah’s strike (90+4) secured valuable three points for Al Sadd in front of a sizeable crowd at the Al Sadd Stadium.
Al Sadd displaced Al Duhail from the top of QNB Stars League standings with 38 points, while the latter stood at 36 points. It was also The Red Knights’ first defeat this season.
The Wolves thus registered their 12th victory, the most by any team. Al Duhail are second with 11 wins.
Al Sadd were without injured left-back Abdelkarim Hassan, who was recently named as Asia’s best player, while Al Duhail continued to miss South Korean midfielder Nam Tae-Hee, who got injured while on duty for his country.
Al Duhail raced to an early lead as El Arabi slammed in a penalty, awarded after Al Sadd defender Boualem Khoukhi ‘handled’ the ball inside the box following a shot by Karim Boudiaf.
Al Sadd were soon on level terms with their rivals as Lucas Mendes guided Akram Afif’s cross from the left into his own goal in a bid to clear the ball to safety.
It looked as if Lucas was making amends, but he sent his volley straight to Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad Al Dossari. Paolo Edmilson’s placing shot then missed the target by inches.
Baghdad Bounedjah came up with an angular shot in the 38th minute. Although Pedro Miguel ran towards the Al Duhail goal to nod the ball home, he was off-target.
Al Duhail forced four corners compared to Al Sadd’s one in the first half even though ball possession was almost equal.
Al Sadd created more chances in the second half, which started with Khoukhi sending a free-kick straight to Al Duhail goalkeeper Khalifa Aboobacker.
At the other end, Edmilson headed over the bar off a cross from Almoez Ali.
The game gathered more pace and Akram just missed the mark after Bounedjah set the stage for him.
Salem, who replaced South Korean midfielder Jung Woo-Young in the second half, finally broke the deadlock towards the end and Bounedjah sealed the issue right at the death.
Source: qsl.qa