Al-Sadd and Al-Ahly tied with two goals each at the top of the 11th round of the Qatari Football League, “Areed Stars League,” which took place at Al-Thumama Stadium.
Akram Afif scored for Al Sadd in the 13th and 59th minutes, and German Julian Draxler scored for Al Ahly in the 45th + 3rd and 52nd minutes.
Al-Sadd, the defending champion, raised its score to 22 points, maintaining its position in second place in the standings on goal difference from Al-Ahly, which has the same score.
Al-Ahly was the first to pose a threat to Al-Sadd’s goal after they missed their first presence with a direct ball sent by former German international Julian Draxler from outside the area, but Mishal Barshim, Al-Sadd’s goalkeeper, brilliantly saved the situation in the third minute.
Al-Sadd took the lead through Akram Afif, the best player in Asia 2023, who took advantage of the lack of defensive control inside the area after he received the ball inside the penalty area from former Brazilian Palmeiras player Giovanni Henrique, and put the ball past Al-Ahly goalkeeper Marawan Sharif in the 13th minute.
The referee of the match, Abdul Rahman Al-Jassim, awarded a penalty kick in favor of Al-Ahly after returning to the video assistant referee technique following a mistake committed by Al-Sadd defender Romain Saiss, but Al-Ahly striker Omar Sekou missed the opportunity to adjust the cuffs after the ball hit the right post in the 20th minute.
Al-Ahly continued to rely on a quick counter-attack, but its winger, Omar Sekou, suffered from the individual supervision imposed on him by Al-Sadd full-back Tariq Salman.
The match referee canceled a goal scored by Al-Ahly by Idrissa Doumbia, by referring to the video assistant referee technology, after he followed a reverse ball from Omar Sekou inside the penalty spot in the 33rd minute.
Akram Afif returned the ball back to former Monaco French player Mohamed Kamara, who fired a shot from outside the penalty area, which bounced off a defender and went over the goal in the 40th minute.
Brazilian Giovanni Henrique had the opportunity to double the score, but his ball went past the goal in the 42nd minute.
Before entering the break, German Draxler took advantage of a mistake committed by Al-Sadd defender Boualem Khoukhi to retrieve the ball, confront Al-Sadd goalkeeper Mishal Barshim, and put the ball into the net in the third minute of stoppage time.
In the second half, the start was perfect for Al-Ahly, after its German star, Julian Draxler, was able to double the score and give his team the lead by taking advantage of a pass behind the defenders from his colleague Omar Sekou, to take advantage of the Al-Sadd goalkeeper’s exit from his goal and put the ball into the net in the 52nd minute, scoring his sixth goal this season.
Former Qatari national team captain Hassan Al-Haydos entered the Al-Sadd squad instead of Spaniard Cristo Gonzalez, before Akram Afif was able to score his second personal goal for him and his team with a wonderful individual effort when he dribbled more than one defender and fired a powerful ball from outside the area into the far right corner inside Al-Ahly’s goal in Minute 59 to score his eighth goal this season.
Al-Sadd almost added a third goal through Hassan Al-Haydos, who followed a ball he received from Akram Afif inside the penalty spot, but the ball went over the crossbar in the 72nd minute.
In the remaining minutes, the two teams sought to break the tie with several attempts that were unsuccessful in light of the defensive caution that prevailed in their back positions, so the final whistle came with a tie with two goals for each.
