Reigning champions Al Sadd suffered a 1-2 defeat to Al Gharafa, while Al Rayyan lost their fourth successive match after going down to Al Ahli by a similar margin in the QNB Stars League on Tuesday. At the Education City Stadium, Sadd – missing a number of Qatari Internationals away on national duty – tumbled out of top four as Gharafa jumped to seventh in the points table.
Sadd’s captain Rodrigo Tabata was shown a red card in the 29th minute for a dangerous foul on Gharafa’s defender Seif El-Din Fadlallah. Ten minutes later, Sadd played the price for it as Ishak Belfodil gave Gharafa the lead after the Algerian forward slotted the ball home after a pass from Yacine Brahimi.
Brahimi himself was in the score sheet in the 55th minute after the Algerian penetrated the Sadd’s defence, before placing the ball over goalkeeper Jihad Mohamed. Guilherme Torres pulled a goal back for Sadd in the 72nd minute, but the Wolves could not muster an equaliser.
Al Sadd coach Juanma Lillo said after the match: “We were not bad and controlled the match despite losing Tabata. We started the second half very well but Gharafa’s second goal set us back. We were more confident after Guillermo scored and took control of the match and were close drawing the match.”
Earlier, at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Rayyan’s season worsened as they slumped to a fourth straight loss. In a clash that saw many mishaps, a 10-man Ahli edged the encounter against a 9-man Rayyan. Yazan al-Naimat (45+2 minute) and Hossein Kanaanizadegan (90+3 min penalty) were the goal scorers for Al Ahli, while Tameem Mansour al-Abdullah (82nd minute) netted for Al Rayyan.
While Saud al-Hajiri (53rd minute) and Ali Karami (90+2 minute) received red cards for Rayyan, Ahli’s Nikola Vukcevic was sent off in the 83rd minute for foul play. The match had begun on a bright note for Al Rayyan - playing in front of their home fans. As early as the eight minute, Rayyan’s captain Dami Terawari went close, so did Moufak Ahmed in the 15th minute.
Two minutes later, Rayyan’s Yohan Boli had another good opportunity but his shot was cut off by an alert Jassem Omer of Ahli. Ahli gathered momentum late in the first half. Their first big chance arrived in the 41st minute but al-Naimat took long to beat the goalkeeper and an onrushing defender played the foil. Ahli, however, struck minutes later in a superb move inside the box from the right. Four players combined to break the Rayyan defence as Omer made a back flip pass to Sofiane Hanni who relayed it to al-Naimat to open the scoring.
Soon in the second half, Al Rayyan made a raid but after holding long inside the box they faced a counter-attack. Al Rayyan’s goalie Soud al-Hajri rushed out far out of the penalty area to stop al-Naimat but his challenge was ruled as foul and the referee flashed a yellow. But soon after the VAR check switched it to red. The goalkeeper changed for Al Rayyan and they also lost Ibrahim Masoud for the replacement.
The battle continued and in the 72nd minute Al Ahli’s Hanni got his first successful shot of the season into the goal but much to his dismay he was ruled off-side. Meanwhile, Steven Nzonzi kept trying hard for Al Rayyan but twice shot wide of the mark.
Al Rayyan were soon provided joy by Tameem Mansour who scored in the 82nd minute. Latching on to a diving header from Dami, Tameem controlled the ball to send in a rasping drive from top of the box that beat six Al Ahli defenders and the goalkeeper to the left corner of the net (1-1).
But the delight soon turned into disappointment again for Al Rayyan in the 89th minute while trying to stop an Ahli attack. With al-Naimat shaping to chase the ball from the top of the box and with no defenders inside the ‘D’, he was held back by Ali Karami of Al Rayyan. After a VAR check, the referee ruled a red card against Ali and signalled for the spot kick. Kanaani took the penalty to coolly beat Al Rayyan goalie Abdullah El Rady.

Arabi face Shamal, gun for top spot
 Al Arabi will be gunning for their fourth successive win when they meet Al Shamal today at the Al Thumama Stadium. A win would put Arabi top of the table ahead of Al Wakrah, who have 10 points.
Despite his team’s outstanding form, Al Arabi coach Younes Ali is wary of a threat from Al Shamal, who have won two matches from their first three games.
“Al Shamal are performing well and it is going to be strong challenge for us,” Ali said. “There was enough time for us to recover and prepare for the match. We hope to be ready for this game.”
Meanwhile, Umm Salal will face Al Sailiya in today’s first game at 5:20pm at the Al Janoub Stadium. Both the teams have endured shaky starts to the season, with Umm Salal placed 11th on the table with a single point while Al Sailiya have three points.