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Sebastian Soria and Youssef Msakni found the target twice each as Lekhwiya thrashed Al Wakrah 4-1 in the Qatar Stars League yesterday to climb to fourth from sixth place in the standings.
Perhaps playing to their potential for the first time this season, the two-time champions produced a fluent display to expose a woefully inept Wakrah defence and clinch their fourth victory of the season from eight matches.
El Jaish, looking for their first league crown, sit at the top with 18 points from eight matches, with Al Sailiya (16), Al Sadd (15) and Lekhwiya (14) following close behind.
Lekhwiya coach Eric Gerets had said at his pre-match press conference that the unpredictability of this year’s tournament was giving him sleepless nights, but yesterday’s performance must have eased his nerves to a considerable extent.
Yet, it was Al Wakrah who drew first blood last evening, comeback man Hussain Yasser scoring his first goal of the season in the 36th minute.
Ali Abdul Rahma floated the ball into the box and Lekhwiya’s Mohamed Moosa failed to connect while attempting to clear, allowing Yasser, who was lurking close by, to beat goalkeeper Amin Lecomte with an easy shot.
Lekhwiya had to wait until the 58th minute to get the equalizer, Msakni’s fine volley from close off a 40-yard pass from Moosa beating Al Wakrah goalkeeper Saleh Allahyar all ends up.Soria then put Lekhwiya ahead in the 64th minute with a fine header off an Issiar Dia pass.
The Uruguayan-born naturalised Qatari once again found himself in perfect position to score in the 75th minute when Moosa cut in from the right and dribbled past Hamood Yazidi before attempting to score. But the ball deflected off goalkeeper Allahyar and fell in front of Soria who easily found the net.
Lekhwiya’s fourth goal came in comical fashion, thanks to Allahyar’s blunder. The Al Wakrah goalkeeper, having collected the ball easily, attempted to test his dribbling skills against Msakni. But the Tunisian pro was too good for him as he snatched the ball from his feet and scored easily to complete the rout.
Earlier, Al Rayyan suffered another crushing loss, this time at the hands of lowly Al Ahli. Al Rayyan, who were beaten 4-1 under new coach Manolo Jiminez after Diego Aguirre was fired last week.
Meanwhile, Al Arabi and Al Kharatiat played out a 1-1 draw.