Al Rayyan broke the deadlock early on against Al Sailiya through new signing Víctor Caceres and never looked back as they recorded a strong 4-0 win over Al Sailiya in the first match of the season at the Jassim bin Hamad stadium.

With Rayyan being absent from the QSL last season, they had a lot of catching up to do, and right from the off, it was obvious which of the two teams was more up for the fight.

However Rayyan had a lucky escape in the 7^th minute when Sailiya’s goal was ruled for off side, the replay showing that Raoul Loé was actually on side with his headed effort from the corner.

The decision would prove to be costly for Sailiya as on the 15^th minute Rodrigo Tabata played a lovely through-ball for Spaniard Garcia on the left hand side of the box, he promptly squared it and the ball was bundled over the line by new Paraguayan signing Víctor Caceres.

Then after the half hour mark Rayyan doubled their lead, again Tabata was involved as he sent in a curling freekick which new signing Sabastian Soria flicked on. The keeper was in no man’s land and could only watch as the ball floated over him.

Half time arrived and the Lions went into the tunnel with a two goal advantage.
After the restart, Sailiya looked like they finally had woken up; gradually they had the majority of the possession.

However all their good work was undone in the 62^nd minute when new signing Dragos Grigore was sent off after a second yellow card offense.

Sailiya with 10 men began to struggle and were caught with a quick counter attack as Rayyan’s defensive midfielder Víctor Cáceres spotted Tabata making a well-timed run.  He sent through a clever chip and Tabata had plenty of time to control the ball, turn and dispatch it for his team’s third of the night (67’).

The Brazilian born Tabata was still not finished as he put the cherry on the cake for the Lions in extra time. With an elegant lob over Sailiya’s defence Tabata pass was weighted perfectly, Mohammed Salah El Neel timed his run from deep and calmly slotted home his side’s 4^th and final goal (92’).

For new Rayyan Head Coach Jorge Fossati the result was a dream start and he could not have asked for more as his team got their tactics right with a dominant first performance in the Qatar Stars League.