Al Sadd’s Baghdad Bounedjah (right) in action yesterday.
Doha: Al Sadd continued their winning run at the QNB Stars League as they beat Al Gharafa 3-1 at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium yesterday.
Striker Baghdad Bounedjah returned a brace, scoring in the eighth and 55th minutes of the match, while Guilherme Torres struck in 90+2 minute for Al Sadd.
For Al Gharafa, their only successful strike came from Ahmed Alaaeldin in the 26th minute.
It was the defending champions’ fifth successive win in the league, following resumption after the World Cup break, besides their Qatar Cup semifinal win recently. It strengthened Al Sadd’s position in the tally with 22 points but from 12 matches. Al Gharafa stood on 19 points from 13 matches.
While Al Gharafa presented a great challenge, Al Sadd rose to the occasion with a fine overall team game. They fetched an early lead with captain Hassan Al Haydous working a move from the right for Pedro to provide Bounedjah with a perfect cross to essay his customary header into the net.
The Cheetahs hit back soon as Yacine Brahimi dribbled his way to pass the ball to an unmarked Alaaeldin and he ran in to beat a defender and the goalkeeper superbly.
Al Arabi’s Youssef Msakni (left) in action yesterday.
The teams were locked 1-1 at half-time, but Al Sadd came back stronger. They could have gone up the lead soon in the 53rd minute, but Al Haydous’ shot went on to hit the right knee of the custodian.
The Wolves made up for it within minutes as Ali Asad stormed into the danger area and cut the ball across past a diving goalkeeper for Boundejah to score his and the team’s second goal.
In the 77th minute, Al Gharafa’s Mehdi Tahrat had a chance, but he could not make a good finish.
In the 88th minute Al Sadd’s Rodrigo Tabata, coming in as a substitute, took a big strike, but his kick went past the top of the right goal post.
Towards the end, there was more delight for Al Sadd and their fans as Akram Afif’s kick hit the centre of the crossbar, but only to bounce out and go towards the left from where Pedro sent in a curler for Torres to touch on its way into the net, gleefully.
Also yesterday, Al Arabi beat Al Shamal 1-0 at the Grand Hamad Stadium with Omar Al Somah scoring the winner in the 59th minute of the match.
Al Somah collected a perfect pass from Helal Mohammed, sent from top left of the box, to essay a beautiful full-length left kick on a bouncing ball while being airborne, sending the team’s fans into raptures.
The victory consolidated Al Arabi’s position in the points table. The Dream Team continued to be second and now have 28 points from 13 matches, chasing leaders Al Duhail who are on 32 points.
Meanwhile, Qatar SC overcame Al Wakrah 2-1 to raise their score to 22 points.
Sebastian Soria (third minute) and Jassim Al Jalabi (43rd minute) scored for Qatar SC. Yousef Abdulrazaq scored for Al Wakrah in the sixth minute.
Al Wakrah were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute when Hazem Ahmed picked up a second yellow card.
