A goal each on both sides of the break by Al Duhail handed Al Rayyan their fifth defeat of the season in the QNB Stars League at Al Duhail Stadium yesterday.
Ismail Mohamed (37th minute) and substitute Michael Olunga (73rd minute) scored for Al Duhail, who stood in the second position with 31 points, courtesy their 10th victory.
Al Rayyan remained on 25 points after suffering their fifth defeat.
Al Duhail had beaten Al Rayyan 2-1 in the first leg of the season.
The marquee encounter of the week, pitting two of the strongest teams against each other, lived up to expectations as both teams were on attack mode from start.
Al Duhail were more charging in the first half. Their players Almoez Ali, Paulo Edmilson Junior, Mohamed Muntari and Eduardo Rodrigues (Dudu) all posed constant threat to the Al Rayyan goal.
One such raid helped Al Duhail take the half-time break with a 1-0 lead when Ismail quickly connected a back pass from near the goalline by Dudu. The Al Rayyan defenders had no answer to it and the ball went in past goalkeeper Saoud al-Hajri.
At the other end, Yohan Boli, Abdulaziz Hatem and Khaled Muftah made goal-bound moves for Al Rayyan even as Al Duhail defender Mehdi Benatia and goalkeeper Salah Zakaria stood firm.
Change of ends saw both teams make substitutions, the most notable being new recruit Olunga replacing Mohamed Muntari as Al Duhail sought to buttress the lead.
Al Rayyan upped their ante and Boli had a good chance to equalise in the 51st minute, but he skied the ball.
On the other hand, Edmilson’s cross from the right went unanswered just past the hour mark.
Al Duhail then found the target a second time as Olunga volleyed in the ball.
In the first match of the day at the same venue, Youcef Belaili converted a penalty right at the death as Qatar SC beat a 10-man Umm Salal 1-0.
Belaili chose to drive the penalty to the right of Umm Salal keeper Samy Habib deep into stoppage time (90+11) as Qatar SC picked up three points after a feisty contest.
Qatar SC now have a tally of 27 points, while Umm Salal stood on 15 points.
Qatar SC started in an aggressive fashion when in the sixth minute Anthony Okpotu fired a shot at the Umm Salal goal from the edge of the box, but the ball was blocked by Roozbeh Mohamed.
Three minutes later, feared striker Belaili fired one from an acute angle, but his shot was blocked by Umm Salal’s Ahmed Hammoudan.
Rabeh Yahia of Umm Salal managed a spectacular solo effort in the 23rd minute, but his powerful shot sailed above the Qatar SC crossbar.
In the 25th minute, Elmehdi Barrahma connected with a corner kick, but his deflection from close range narrowly sailed above the Umm Salal crossbar. Ten minutes later, Elmehdi attempted another shot at the goal, but his powerful shot was blocked by Moses Orkuma.
Nine minutes into the second half, Qatar SC produced one more threatening move through Belaili who curled in a spectacular shot from the edge of the box, but the shot was blocked by Umm Salal keeper.
A couple of minutes on, Adel Alawi, also of Umm Salal, attempted a similar long-range effort, but he was wayward with his right-footed drive. 
Elmehdi continued with the trend of attempting long-range shots in the 69th minute but this time also, the Qatar SC forward was slightly wayward. Three minutes later, Aymen Abdennour brought down Okpotu with a fierce tackle and got thrown out of the game with a red card.
In the 88th minute, Bashar Resan got a chance to tap the ball into the net from a few metres, but his deflection flew up above the Umm Salal crossbar.
In the dying seconds of injury time, Omar al-Emadi flicked one from close range following a goalmouth melee, but Umm Salal’s Ibrahim Elsadig headed the ball to safety.
But there was further drama in the match when Roozbeh elbowed Qatar SC’s Mohamed Salem as both players jumped to connect a loopy cross inside the Umm Salal box. Referee Yousef al-Sharshani used VAR to award a penalty to Qatar SC and Belaili easily converted it.
Later, across the town at Al Arabi Stadium, the home team beat Al Wakrah 1-0.
Mehrdad Mohammadi scored the winner by converting a penalty in the 77th minute as Al Arabi clinched their sixth victory of the season.
Al Arabi moved on to 23 points, the same as Al Ahli but with better goal difference, while Al Wakrah remained on 14 points.