Al Sadd are Qatar Cup champions

Doha, Qatar: Xavi Hernandez had casually talked about the idea of revenge in football on Thursday, the eve of the Qatar Cup final, and of Friday and his players did exactly that against their biggest rivals Al Duhail SC.

The Wolves even took care of the scoreline as well, pumping in four goals past the defence marshalled by Medhi Benatia, as they had lost 1-4 to Sadd the last time they met.

Baghdad Bounedjaj scored a brace while Nam Tae Hee and Akram Afif helped themselves with one goal each.

Sadd had come into the final in roaring form with a 4-1 victory against Al Rayyan and they just continued from where they left off.

Duhail had given the idea in the initial couple of minutes that they were ready for the challenge before the pocket-sized South Korean forward Nam Tae Hee popped up inside their box to head home the opening goal.

That strike in the fifth minute rattled Duhail defence and they managed to settle after that.

That their right-back Ismail Mohammed suffered a painful hamstring injury and left the pitch in the 17th minute also did not help their cause.

Rui Faria brought new signing Han Kwang Song in place of Mohammed with the North Korean playing in attack while Paulo Edmilson played as a makeshift right back.

It did not look a wise move and goalkeeper Amine Lecomte committed a blunder in the 21st minute – hitting Benatia's backpass straight at Baghdad Bounedjah, who adjusted his right foot to sent it straight into the goal – as Sadd took the firm control of the match.

It was like every time Duhail lost the ball, Sadd were coming at them hard and especially Akram Afif, with his pace, was giving them plenty of headaches.

That Almoez Ali's shot from distance in the 30th minute was Duhail's first attempt on target gives an idea of Sadd's dominance in the opening period and they made it 3-0 with a beautiful goal from Bounedjah in the 45th minute.

It also came after Sadd defence, where Boualem Khoukhi was in imperious form, broke a Sadd move and moved the ball quickly upwards.

Nam found Boundejah of the left edge of the penalty box, and the Algerian striker made just enough space to sent a curler into the far corner of Lecomte's goal.

Hassan Al Haydous had two chances to increase Sadd's lead soon after the restart, but the Qatar forward could not find the target, either with his left-footer or with a header soon after.

had a chance to come back into the match early in the second half as after a rare mistake by Abdulkarim Hassan.

Almoez Ali picked up the loose ball and ran straight at Sadd defence before finding an unmarked Han inside the box. The North Korean forward's first touch was not the perfect one and his hurried effort ballooned over the bar.

Sadd made sure there would be no come back as Afif proved too fast for Mohammed Moosa who ended up fouling the Qatar forward inside the box.

Afif himself took the penalty and sent the keeper the wrong way before placing the ball into the corner.

However, Mario Mandzukic, who could not do much, had a chance in the 75th minute only for Sadd Al Sheeb to come up with a stunning save, with his feet.

It was an evening where Sadd could do no wrong and it was nothing more than what they deserved.