Al Duhail skipper Youssef Msakni (centre) celebrates with team-mates after scoring his third goal against Al Ahli during their QNB Stars League match played at Al Ahli Stadium yesterday. Picture: Baher Amin/The Peninsula
Doha: Youssef Msakni led from the front with a hat-trick and an assist as Al Duhail thrashed hosts Al Ahli 4-0 in their QNB Stars League encounter yesterday.
Captain Msakni scored in the seventh, 23rd and 77th minutes while Youssef El Arabi’s strike in the 36th minute made the goal tally for the winners.
Msakni took his tally to 14 goals and El Arabi 20 as the tournament’s top two scorers.
With yesterday’s win, Al Duhail moved to 39 points, while Al Ahli stayed on 16 in the standings.
Al Duhail showed no let-up and dominated from the beginning as play was mostly restricted to the Al Ahli area. Murad Naji impressed with his darting runs along the right flank as well as precise crosses and corner kicks.
Msakni opened the scoring with a long-range shot following a quick reaction and doubled the lead by heading in a corner taken by Naji, giving goalkeeper Yazan Naim no chance.
El Arabi made it 3-0 after evading the offside trap and being set up by Msakni.
Al Duhail took it a bit easy in the second half, whereas Al Ahli showed more alacrity. The Brigadiers’ striker Meshaal Abdullah went off the field injured and was replaced by Majid Mohammed.
After Al Duhail’s Ismail Mohammed missed a sitter on the hour mark, Al Ahli’s first real chance to score came in the 73rd, but Yassine Chikhaoui failed to connect. The Tunisian attacking midfielder was thwarted by rival goalkeeper Amine Lecomte after Msakni had completed his hat-trick, with Karim Boudiaf doing the spadework.
Elsewhere, at Al Arabi Stadium, Al Rayyan recorded a 3-1 victory against struggling Al Markhiya yesterday.
Goals from Sebastian Soria in the 10th minute, Abderrazaq Hamdallah (70th) and Rodrigo Tabata (86th) were enough for The Lions. Al Markhiya’s goal came through Mohamed Salah in the 22nd.
Al Rayyan now have 35 points and Al Markhiya stayed on eight. The Lions thus geared up for the Qatar Clasico against Al Sadd on February 8.
An edgy opening to the game saw few early chances. However, Al Markhiya were denied the lead when Salah’s close-range header struck the turf before bouncing up and on to the crossbar.
A minute later, they were made to pay as Mohsine Moutaouali fed Sebastian Soria inside the box for the front man to grab his ninth goal of the season with a left-footed shot across the face of the goal.
The home side grew into the game and were able to capitalise midway through the half as Salah tapped in following a defensive mix-up between Mousa Haroun and goalkeeper Oumar Barry.
Early in the second half and Barry was again involved as his spilled catch was pounced on by Saleh who blasted over.
Al Rayyan regained the lead through Hamdallah as he beat the offside trap to reign in on goal and curl his shot into the far corner.
With the victory all but secured, Tabata finished off a fine passing move late on to pile further pressure on the home side.
Later, at the Al Arabi Stadium, 10-man Al Arabi secured a very hard-fought point in a 0-0 draw against Umm Salal.
Today, Al Khor will meet strong Al Gharafa at their own backyard while Qatar SC will take on visiting Al Sadd in the final match of the week.
