Al Gharafa and Al Shahania scored valuable wins while Al Arabi edged past Al Khor in Qatar Stars League on Saturday. At the Al Bayt Stadium, Al Gharafa recorded a 2-1 victory over Al Shamal.
Baghdad Bounedjah opened the scoring for Al Shamal in the 56th minute before Ferjani Sassi equalised for Gharafa in the 60th minute. Later, in the second minute of stoppage time, Mohammed Muntari snatched the winner for Al Gharafa, who remain third in the table with 31 points while Al Shamal are sixth with 19 points.
At the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium, Al Shahania continued their winning run as they beat Al Rayyan 2-1. This was Al Shahania’s fourth win on the trot since the start of the second leg of the league. Two superb opening half goals from Sven van Beek (32nd minute) and Francesco Antonucci (37th minute) set up Al Shahania’s win even as a stoppage-time penalty saw Roger Guedes pull one back for Al Rayyan (90+4 minute).
The win pitchforked Al Shahania into fifth place in the rankings with a tally of 20 points while Al Rayyan moved down from 6th to 8th with 18 points.
Meanwhile, Marco Verratti scored a brace in a seven-goal thriller at the Al Khor stadium as Al Arabi edged the hosts 4-3 in a battle to escape the relegation zone. With the win Al Arabi moved to 16 points in 10th place while Al Khor remain at the bottom in 12th with 7 points.
While Khaled Radwan (9th minute), Ricardo Gomes (45th), and Sofiane Hanni (90+5) scored for Al Khor, the goals for Al Arabi came from Yousef Msakni (14th minute), Ahmed Alaaeldin (27th), and Marco Verratti (46th and 90+2).