Brahimi, Macedo shine in Rayyan’s win over Al Arabi

A goal each by Yacine Brahimi and Gabriel Macedo either side of the break gave Al Rayyan a thrilling 2-1 win over fierce rivals Al Arabi in the QNB Stars League yesterday.The Lions thus extended their unbeaten run in the tournament, with Al Duhail the only other team yet to taste defeat.Fans, in large numbers, were still filing in when the match kicked off. Spectators, who finally totaled 10,172, roared in excitement as the action started.Al Rayyan had an upper hand initially in the fast-paced game. Al Arabi gradually came into the match by offering a stiff resistance in front of home fans.And much to their delight, Al Arabi took the lead in the 40th minute when Hamdi Harbaoui found the mark after Pierre-Michel Lassoga set him up with a dipping header off a corner kick by Marc Muniesa Martinez.Captain Rodrigo Tabata and Brahimi led Al Rayyan’s attacks, while Al Arabi’s Harbaoui and Lassoga mostly attacked the other end.Tabata almost doubled Al Rayyan’s lead close to the half-time whistle when he sent a cracking left-footer against the crosspiece. During the half, he also had a free-kick that hit the post.Al Arabi too had their share of chances, with Birkir Bjarnason’s header being saved by Al Rayyan goalkeeper Fahd Younis. And Lassoga had a shot deflected out.Al Arabi came off the breather with renewed vigour. The Al Rayyan goal had a close call in the 52nd minute when youngster Yousef Abdulrazaq was on the go. And Lassoga sent a screamer wide the next minute.At the other end, Al Rayyan too attacked and they succeeded in scoring a second time as Mercado was on hand to hit home the rebound after Sebastian Soria attempted to score from a Tabata corner kick.Al Arabi fought hard for an equaliser. However, Birkir narrowly missed the mark just before Lassoga’s header was saved by Fahd in the last minute of regular time, signalling a famous victory for Al Rayyan. In an earlier match, Al Sailiya were held to a goalless draw by bottom side Al Shahania in a tense battle at Al Ahli Stadium.Al Shahania had come into the game on the back of two positive results, and they looked set to continue this run against an Al Sailiya side who had disposed of Al Wakrah in the previous round.The going was not easy in a very tight match. Long-range efforts from Ali Ferydoun and Aldoukali Al Baoure were not too troublesome for Khalifa Ndiaye in the opposition goal, but it displayed a clear intent.Al Sailiya attacked the other end with a couple of chances of their own, most notably from Karim Ansari whose quick footwork provided him with a scoring opportunity, but he was unable to find the target. Later in the first half, Karim was close to opening the scoring when Mohmad Rajeb whipped in a lovely cross from the left with the outside of his right boot, yet the outstretched leg of Karim was not able to make a strong enough connection to score.The Peregrines missed a glorious triple chance when Mashaal Al-Shammari, Boussoufa Mbark and Mohmad Rajeb all hit the woodwork in the same frantic passage of play when they really should have done better.Sensing an opening midway through the second half, Al Shahanias Nigel de Jong whipped in a corner from the right and Ramin Rezaiein outleapt his marker. However, his powerful header did not find the target.Both teams had fantastic chances to snatch the points at the end, firstly Karim saw his goal-bound strike spectacularly cleared by Mostafa Jafri, before Fereydoun laid off the ball to Ramin at the other end of the field and he smashed the ball wide of the target.