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<p>Reigning champions Al Sadd fought their way to a battling 4-1 opening-day victory over promoted side Al Wakrah in Week 1 of the 2019-20 QNB Stars League at the Al Sadd Stadium on Wednesday.</p><p>Al Sadd’s goals were scored by Abdulaziz Al Ansari (ninth minute), Abdelkarim Hassan (74th) and Ahmed Sayyar (84th and 90th minutes).</p><p>Al Wakrah’s goal came from Mohamed Benyettou in the 26th minute.</p><p>As favourites coming into the match, it was no surprise when Al Sadd took an early lead.  Only nine minutes in, Al Ansari chased down a through ball before fighting off the exertions of Ahmed Al Hamawende and slotting home from the edge of the area with a shot that wrong-footed opposition goalkeeper Al Khater.</p><p>Al Wakrah’s task got harder following Ali Karami’s sending-off. At that point, the writing seemed to be on the wall. However, they got back into the game with a goal when Prieto’s cross found Benyettou inside the penalty area.</p><p>With the clock ticking, Al Wakrah’s brave, 10-man resistance was beaten for a second time when Al Ansari combined with Al Haydous to create chaos in the box and Abdelkarim was on hand to fire home.</p><p>The scores widened late on as Sayyar contributed two more goals to make it 4-1 for The Wolves.</p><p>The result marks a perfect start to the campaign for Al Sadd, but Al Wakrah will have taken a lot of positives form this match.</p>