Al Arabi and Al Ahly tied with two goals to one in the match that took place today at Al Thumama Stadium at the opening of the ninth round of the Qatari Football League (Doha Bank Stars League).
Issa Lay and Ishaq Al-Hajj scored two goals for Al-Ahly in the 43rd and 45th + 2 minutes, while Spanish striker Eric Exposito scored two goals for Al-Ahly in the 59th and 61st minutes, raising the former’s score to 14 points and remaining fourth, while Al-Ahly raised its score to 12 points, remaining temporarily fifth.
Al-Arabi imposed a clear advantage from the beginning of the match through control and possession, but it clashed with a tight defensive organization from Al-Ahly, which retreated to its defensive areas, relying on quick transitions.
Al-Arabi was late in creating effective attack on the goal until the 17th minute, when Spaniard Pablo Sarabia won a free kick that he executed himself, but the goalkeeper cleared it, before Kenyan Michael Olunga’s header went over the crossbar in the 21st minute.
The real danger was absent until the last minutes of the first half, which saw Al-Arabi succeed in scoring via a corner kick executed by Moroccan Oussama Tannan, and Issa Lay headed it into the net, scoring the first goal in the 43rd minute.
In stoppage time of the first half, Al-Arabi added the second goal through Ishak Al-Hajj, who followed Olunga’s header bouncing off the crossbar and put it into the goal in the 45th minute + 2, ending the first half with Al-Arabi leading by two unanswered goals.
Despite Al-Ahly’s strong start at the beginning of the second half, after they were close to scoring a third goal through Sarabia, who shot a powerful ball that bounced off the crossbar in the 51st minute, Al-Ahly showed a strong uprising that resulted in their return to the match within three minutes.
The beginning came by reducing the gap by Spaniard Eric Exposito, who fired a wonderful shot from outside the penalty area into the net in the 59th minute, before the same player repeated the scene with another shot that the goalkeeper was unable to clear, equalizing the score in the 61st minute.
Al-Arabi seemed affected by the injury of its Moroccan playmaker, Oussama Tannan, before receiving the two goals, before Romanian coach Cosmin Olario rearranged the cards, so the team regained its offensive influence, and almost scored through Sarabia, who was unlucky again, after his powerful shot rebounded off the crossbar in the 76th minute.
Al-Arabi continued to press in search of regaining the lead, and substitute Mohamed Khaled shot a ball that was blocked by the goalkeeper in the 82nd minute, before Ishaq Al-Hajj’s shot went past the post in the 87th minute.
Al-Arabi threw its weight into the remaining minutes, while Al-Ahly closed its back areas, so the last minutes passed without anything new in the score, and the match ended in a draw with two goals to the same.
