Umm Salal downs Lekhwiya (1-0)Lekhwiya’s bad run continued after they were defeated 1-0 by Umm Salal at Al Arabi stadium. The Orange Fortress scored right at the start of the second half through Yannick Sagbo and then held on for a memorable victory. In the previous 10 encounters between the two teams Salal had never won. This day will go down in the history books for Bulent Uygun’s men.
For the defending champions however this is another day they will want to forget which included a missed penalty from forward Youssef Msakni.
Lekhwiya was dominating the match and peppered Salal’s goal but couldn’t find a way through. Salal, on the other hand managed just five shots on goal out of which just two were on target.
Lekhwiya started brightly and had early chances. Ali Afif had his shot saved by Salal keeper Baba Malick in the 11th minute. Two minutes later it was Salal who had a chance denied when Claude Amin safely caught Ismael Mardani’s shot.
Then right at the start of the second half, Sagbo received a cross from Rami Fayez, he turned past the defender and fired it into the goal. Against the run of play Salal had surprised the defending champions with a quick second half start (46’).
Lekhwiya then upped their game and started mounting attack after attack but were lacking their usual clinical finishing in the final third.
Then in the 73rd minute Lekhwiya were awarded a penalty when Jawad Ahnash brought down Msakni. But the Tunisian missed his penalty and to add salt to their wounds Ahmed Nasser was given a second yellow for his foul on Sagbo right at the end of the match.
A dreadful night for the Red Knights but Umm Salal will be celebrating their first win over Lekhwiya in the Qatar Stars League as well as 5th spot in the standings.
Arabi claim tough win over Kharaitiyat (2-1)
Al Arabi pulled off a 2-1 victory over a gritty Kharaitiyat side at home tonight. A brace from striker Paulinho helped Arabi secure three points and get back to winning ways.
Kharaitiyat defender Domingos will be left kicking himself after being the main culprit behind his team conceding both the goals.
Despite Arabi being stronger on paper, it was an evenly-contested match with both sides even possession of the ball. Both teams also had roughly the same amount of shots on goals.
The first goal of the match came in the 28th minute when Paulinho converted from the spot. Sergio Junior fired in a shot which ended up hitting the hand of Domingos and with just the Kharaitiyat defender’s hand preventing the goal, the referee had no hesitation in pointing to the spot.
Kharaitiyat pulled one back in the 58th minute through Yahia Kebe. Mohammed Alyazidi delivered a great cross into the box and the striker sent in a powerful header to the far corner of the goal. In the 66th minute Kebe put the ball in the back of the net but he was ruled offside, however the replay showed the decision to incorrect.
Domingos then committed his second glaring mistake of the match. Arabi’s Ali Jassemi fired in a cross from the right flank and the Brazilian defender scuffed his clearance, the ball fell kindly to Paulinho who made no mistake giving his team the lead in the 81st minute.
Kharaitiyat had a couple chances to get an equalizer as they went all out in attack. Domingos himself had a chance in the 84th minute but his header was straight at the Arabi keeper.
With this win Arabi have climbed to third in the rankings while Kharaitiyat are now ninth.
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