Captain Rodrigo Tabata scored a brilliant hat-trick to power Al Rayyan to an emphatic 4-1 win over Al Khor at Al Sadd’s Jassim bin Hamad Stadium on the penultimate day of the 2016/17 QSL season yesterday.
Tabata thus finished third in the QSL scoring list with 19 goals, while the Lekhwiya duo of Youssef al-Arabi and Baghdad Bounedjah are first and second with 24 and 23 goals, respectively. Yesterday’s win helped third-placed Al Rayyan take their tally to 51 points from 26 matches.
The Lions got off to a decent start when Tabata found the back of the net in the 19th minute after Al Rayyan were awarded a penalty. Despite the Al Khor goalkeeper Baba Djibril getting a hand on it, the power was too much for him and the ball smashed into the bottom left hand corner of the goal to give Al Rayyan the lead.
Al Khor were gifted an equaliser when Al Rayyan’s goalkeeper Oumar Barry fumbled an easy free-kick, with his attempted catch bouncing off his chest and falling kindly for Mouhcine Iajour who stabbed it home from just five yards out with 25 minutes on the clock.
It didn’t take long though for Al Rayyan to gain the upper hand again, and just two minutes later Koh Myong-jin found himself on the end of a lovely through ball that left Al Khor’s defence standing. Koh was one-on-one with goalkeeper Djibril, scoring with an easy finish.
Al Rayyan dominated much of the second half and in the 79th minute made it 3-1 after Tabata scored his second of the evening to make it 3-1.
And the talismanic captain earned his hat-trick with virtually the last kick of the game to round off the season in style.
Al Khor finished the season hovering just a few points above the relegation zone and will be hoping for a better 2017/18 QSL season.

Umm Salal leave it late
Meanwhile, Umm Salal needed a last-minute goal from Omar Ibrahim to edge out Al Arabi 2-1 in an entertaining QSL encounter at Qatar SC stadium. The game looked to be heading for a 1-1 draw before Ibrahim made a surging run and slotted the ball into the back of the net to ensure the Orange Fortress will end the QSL campaign on a high.
Al Arabi started the first half better and should have taken the lead when Ali Jasimi picked out Paulinho with a clipped cross. Unfortunately for the Brazilian attacker, his header flew over the cross-bar.
Against the run of play, Umm Salal took the lead through their Ivorian striker Yannick Sagbo who made a
well-timed run to slot past the Al Arabi keeper Rajab Hamza for his 15th goal of the season 10 minutes before half-time.
Osvaldo Olivera’s side didn’t let their heads slip, and found a way back into the tie five minutes from the break. Nigerian striker Imoh Ezekiel was hauled down in the penalty area, giving the referee little choice but to point to the spot. Paulinho stepped up for Al Arabi and dispatched the penalty for his first goal of the campaign. The first half ended honours even at 1-1.
The second half was a relatively tame encounter with both sides struggling to create many chances of note. That certainly changed with 10 minutes left to play when the referee awarded Al Arabi a penalty after striker Ahmed Khalfan was fouled by Umm Salal defender Jawad Ahannach.
This time Arabi captain Boualem Khoukhi stepped up for his side; however his strike down the middle of the goal was easily saved by Umm Salal stopper Baba Malick.
With the tie heading for a draw, substitute Omar Ibrahim made a surging run, beating two Arabi defenders and calmly slotting the ball past an onrushing Rajab Hamza to give the Orange Fortress all three points.