Al Gharafa shock defending champions Al Sadd 2-1; Al Ahli also notch up full points

DOHA: Al Gharafa shocked defending champions Al Sadd 2-1 in the fourth round of Qatar Stars League on Tuesday at the Education City Stadium.

Ishak Belfodil (38th minute) and Yacine Brahimi (55th minute) scored for Al Gharafa, while Guilherme Torres found the target for a 10-man Al Sadd in the 72nd minute.

Al Sadd lost their captain Rodrigo Tabata in the 29th minute to a red card as he stepped on to Saifeldeen Fadlalla’s toes.

Al Ahli beat Al Rayyan 2-1 in an incident-filled match in Qatar Stars League at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium on Tuesday.

In a clash that saw exciting action, a 10-man Al Ahli had the last laugh against a nine-man Al Rayyan.

Yazan Al Naimat (45+1 minute) and Hossein Kanaani (90+3 min penalty) were the scorers for Al Ahli, while Tameem Mansour Al Abdullah (82nd minute) did so for Al Rayyan.

While Al Rayyans Saoud Al Hajiri (52nd minute) and Ali Karami (90+1 minute) received red cards, Al Ahlis Nikola Vukcevic was flashed with the red 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 eighth minute, Al Rayyan captain Dame Traori made a tough header looking back, off a fine Tameem Mansour free-kick, but the ball went on to hit the bottom of the left post.

In the 15th minute, Mowafak Awad of Al Rayyan had a good chance, but he kicked over. Two minutes later, Al Rayyans dangerous forward Yohan Boli had another good opportunity in front of the goal, but his shot was cut off by an alert Jassem Omer of Al Ahli.

With Al Rayyan juggled to make their moves come together, Al 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.

Al Ahli, however, struck minutes later in a superb move inside the box from the right. Playing tiki-taka four players combined to break the Al Rayyan defence as Omar made a back flip pass to Sofiane Hanni, who relayed it to Al Naimat to score.