Al Duhail overcame an early goal deficit to rout Al Sadd 4-1 in the QNB Stars League Saturday, a victory that gave Rui Costa’s side the top position in the standings.
Mohamed Muntari (34th-minute penalty), Karim Boudiaf (45+1), Paulo Edmilson (81st minute) and Almoez Ali (90+1) scored Al Duhail’s goals after Hassan al-Haydos (14th minute) had put Al Sadd ahead.
Al Duhail moved to the top of QNB Stars League table with 23 points. It was The Red Knights’ seventh victory. They are also unbeaten so far, along with Al Rayyan.
Al Sadd, who have two games in hand (against Al Arabi and Al Khor), stood on 15 points. The Wolves had earlier been beaten by Al Rayyan in the Qatar Clasico.
Al Duhail missed Luis Martin, Asim Madibo and Bassam Al Rawi due to injuries, while Al Sadd had full squad at their disposal barring Abdelkarim Hassan.
The fast-paced match, played in front of a crowd of 4,878, lived up to its billing and Al Duhail went into the half-time break with a 2-1 lead, slightly against the run of play.
Almoez was the livewire in Al Duhail’s attacks, while Baghdad Bounedjah and Akram Afif led Al Sadd’s offensives, with Nam Tae-hee making incisive runs.
Al Sadd went ahead through Qatar international forward al-Haydos, who volleyed in Bounedjah’s cross from the right.
Al Duhail equalised through Muntari, who converted a penalty awarded after Salem al-Hajri brought down Almoez.
Just before the half-time break, Boudiaf headed in Edmilson’s corner into the far corner of the goal.
As the game wore on, Al Sadd brought in Ali Asad and Abdulaziz al-Ansari, whereas Al Duhail fielded Yousef Msakni, Mohanad Ali and Fahd Ahmed as substitutes.
Not long after the second half started, Msakni could not convert a Boudiaf shot. Afterwards, Al Sadd made a couple of attempts. Pedro’s header was so feeble that Al Duhail goalkeeper Amine Lecomte could collect it easily. Nam came closest to score, but could not beat Lecomte.
Edmilson then made it 3-1 by giving the finishing touch to a brilliant cross from the left by Msakni.
Almoez rounded off the tally in stoppage time, with Msakni again doing the spadework.
Al Duhail’s Ahmed Yasser was red-carded in the 88th minute after he received his second yellow for fouling Nam
Earlier, Al Gharafa fought to the end to earn valuable three points, thanks to an impressive 3-1 victory away to Al Khor.
Their goals came from Ahmed Alaaeldin in the 12th minute, and Sofiane Hanni in the 74th and 86th minutes. Al Khor had earlier scored through Tiago Bezerra in the 69th minute.
Al Gharafa opened the proceedings with an early goal to settle the nerves, thanks to Hector Moreno’s incisive cross from deep which was met by Ahmed Alaaeldin who rose highest to plant his header into the corner.
The hosts also had strong openings as they were twice unfortunate not to equalise when both Ahmed Hammoudan and Abduka al-Moraisi had separate opportunities to score, having gone past the last line of defence.
The majority of the pressure continued from the away side though as they sought to extend their lead. Firstly, Sofiane saw a free-kick fly inches past the far post, before Amro Seraj’s powerful drive was excellently stopped by Baba Djibril in the Al Khor goal. 
After a strong push in the second half, The Knights got their equaliser from a set piece, which was always the most likely of routes. Following a corner, Robert Alexander Melki swung in a cross which evaded the goalkeeper and was spectacularly finished with a scissor kick from Bezerra at the back post.
Rather than spurring them on for a second, it was Al Gharafa who were quickest to respond to the setback as they pushed for, and ultimately got, the second goal. Amro, who caused trouble all night, weaved his way into the penalty area and his shot struck the outside of the post, but was collected by Sofiane who fired The Cheetahs’ second of the evening.
Sofiane was on hand to confirm the victory late on when Amro whipped in an inch perfect cross for Sofiane to sidefoot home on the volley.
The result saw Al Gharafa move on to 17 points, while while Al Khor remained on five points.
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