Al Sadd beat Al Gharafa 2-0 to notch their second win in Week 3 of the Doha Bank Stars League at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium on Thursday.

Youcef Atal (4th minute) and Brazilian Roberto Firmino (51st minute) scored the goals for defending champions Al Sadd, who will now go into the international break with 6 points to their credit but ahead of Al Gharafa, who also have 6 points, on goal difference.

Al Sadd caught The Cheetahs off guard at the very start as Atal collected a parallel assist from Uruguayan Agustin Silvera about 20 yards outside the box to dash in from the right. His long diagonal kick beat a stretched goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar to hit the bottom of left post before going in.

Al Gharafa hit back almost equalized, three minutes later with a fine Yacine Brahimi free kick but Muntari had broken early while the kick was being taken to be ruled offside.

The attacking play from both sides provided excitement to fans. In the 29th minute, an Afif corner kick was headed low by a diving Guilherme Torres but goalkeeper Ababacar was alert and cut it off.

In the 40th minute, a powerful Paulo Silva long ranger on an Afif set up flew over the goal.

Soon after the break, Al Sadd doubled their lead as Firmino fired in from inbetween the legs of a defender after being smartly provided an assist by Afif in front of the goal.

In the 90th minute, Al Sadd goalkeeper MeshaalBarsham leapt to keep a strong kick from Rabeh YahiaBoussafi of Al Gharafa away.