Al Gharafa climbed to second place in the Qatar Stars League after a 2-0 win over Al Ahli at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium on Wednesday. Goals from Rodrigo Moreno in the 35th minute and Ferjani Sassi in the 56th minute sealed Gharafa’s win as they moved two points above Al Sadd and are one behind leaders Al Duhail.
Defending champions Al Sadd will meet Qatar SC today at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium while leaders Al Duhail will take on Al Rayyan at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium.
Wednesday’s win was Gharafa’s sixth in a row this season. The match was predictably well contested between the two teams, who approached match with a mere point separating them.
For the majority of the first half, the initial minutes yielded few remarkable moments, as both sides exhibited a degree of caution, fully aware of the threats posed by their opponents, particularly if their defensive flanks were left vulnerable.
Moreno eventually got the opener for Gharafa after a defence-splitting inch-perfect pass from Ahmed al-Ganehi located the Brazilian, who wasted no time in lobbing the ball over the on-rushing goalkeeper Marwan Badreldin to give the fans something to cheer about.
Seydou Sano almost doubled the lead for Gharafa two minutes later, but his right-footed shot from more than 35 yards went just inches wide of the intended target, while Al Ahli’s Abdulrahman Fahmi Moustafa got his right-footed shot from outside the box in the 43rd minute brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar as The Cheetahs took their lead into the halftime break. Gharafa’s fine run continued in the second half with their attacking force, spearheaded by Joselu, relentlessly running rings around The Brigadiers’ defence in an attempt to extend their lead.
Badreldin made a fantastic save of Yacine Brahimi’s left-footed attempt from a difficult angle in the 51st minute, but the danger could not be averted in the 57th minute when Brahimi had a darting run inside the final third of Al Ahli before laying an unexpected pass to Sassi to finish off with a right-footed shot from the centre of the box.
Al Ahli made a raft of changes in search of a desperate goal and probably equaliser but the move made no difference to their game as Al Gharafa continued to gain ascendency, with their confidence growing minute by minute after the two goals in the bag. Brahimi almost added a third in five minutes of added time, but Al Ahli was lucky this time around with the right-footed shot of the Algerian international from outside the box going a few inches high and wide to the left with goalkeeper Badreldin already beaten.

Al Shahania rally from a goal down to beat nine-man Al Khor
Earlier, Al Shahania made a fighting comeback to beat bottom-placed Al Khor 2-1 in an eventful match at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium.
Al Khor, who had gained lead midway through the opening half, were hit with two red card dismissals as Ruben Semedo (34th minute) and Abdalaziz al-Hssia (79th) were sent off for rough and dangerous tackles and their team eventually ended up conceding two late goals.
Al Shahania also saw Francesco Antonucci being shown a second yellow card in the fifth minute of added seven minutes of stoppage time.
While Ibrahim Kala (28th minute) scored for Al Khor, Mohammad Abu Shanab (80th minute) and Pelle van Amersfoort (85th) struck solid headers for Al Shahania.
The win saw Al Shahania leapfrog from being 10th to 7th in the rankings, ahead of Al Wakrah and Umm Salal on goal difference, while Al Khor remained rooted at the bottom with just 7 points after eighth loss this season.