Al Duhail First Football Team managed to achieve an important and exciting victory over their guests Al Ahli with four goals to two in Round 18 of the Ooredoo Stars League fixture that brought both teams together at Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium in Al Duhail Club.
Al Duhail, led by Christophe Galtier, started the match with the following starting lineup:
(1) Salah Zakaria “Goalkeeper”, (2) Youssef Ayman, (3) Lucas Verissimo, (10) Luis Alberto, (11) Al Moez Ali, (12) Karim Boudiaf, (14) Michael Olunga, (19) Benjamin Bourigeaud, (22) Ibrahim Bamba, (24) Humam Al Amin, (93) Hakim Ziyech.
While sitting on the bench at the beginning of the match:
(30) Bautista Burke “Goalkeeper”, (38) Jassim Babiker “Goalkeeper”, (5) Bassam Al Rawi, (7) Ismail Mohamed, (8) Paulo Edmilson, (20) Abdullah Al Ahrak, (23) Ahmed Al Sayed, (25) Mubarak Shanan, (29) Rashid Al Abdullah, (77) Ghanem Al Menhali.
The sixth minute witnessed the first opportunity for Al Duhail after a cross ball bounced off the hands of Al Ahli goalkeeper to reach Michael Olunga who shot towards the goal but his ball passed safely over the crossbar of Al Ahli goal.
The 25th minute Michael Olunga returned to pose a threat to Al Ahli goal after he took advantage of a perfect long pass from his teammate Youssef Ayman to shoot powerfully towards Al Ahli goal but the skill of Al Ahli goalkeeper prevented the ball from entering the net and he cleverly turned it into a corner kick.
Quickly, from a corner kick in the 25th minute, Lucas Verissimo, Al Duhail center back, managed to score the team first goal after taking advantage of a ricochet from Al Ahli goalkeeper, who blocked Al Moez Ali’s header, easily putting it into Al Ahli goal, scoring the first goal of the match.
In the 38th minute, Al Ahli managed to equalize through Julian Draxler before Draxler returned again in the 42nd minute to add Al Ahli second goal, making the score 2-1.
In the 43rd minute, from a magical pass from Hakim Ziyech into Al Ahli penalty area, Luis Alberto, who was facing the goal, failed to control it, and the opportunity to equalize the score was lost.
In the first minute of stoppage time, the opportunity to equalize was lost again after Karim Boudiaf failed to control a ball falling inside the penalty area, so it went out of the field, wasting a new opportunity in front of the goal in favor of Al Duhail.
The last minute of the first half stoppage time, and from a new long pass from Hakim Ziyech, it reached Humam Al Amin on the left wing, who crossed it to reach the arms of Al Ahli goalkeeper.
Minute 61, Al Moez Ali almost reached Al Ahli goal if it weren’t for the brilliance of Al Ahli goalkeeper again in clearing the ball away from his goal and maintaining Al Ahli lead. Then Al Moez Ali returned again to pose a threat to Al Ahli goal in the 65th minute, but his cross passed safely without any player from Al Duhail dealing with it, so it passed far from Al Ahli goal.
Minute 70, Hakim Ziyech’s cross almost surprised Al Ahli goalkeeper, but it passed just next to the left post after hitting one of Al Ahli defenders.
Minute 74, Al Duhail historical scorer Michael Olunga made his presence felt after he managed to score the equalizer for the Tornado with a powerful header that he turned into the net from a perfect cross from the substitute Edmilson.
The 82nd minute witnessed the first appearance of Moroccan Hakim Ziyech, Al Duhail player, in terms of goals, after he managed to give the lead to his team with a wonderful goal from a direct free kick that he shot from outside of Al Ahli penalty area, which Al Ahli goalkeeper failed to stop, and it passed into his team nets announcing Al Duhail lead 3-2.
The 86th minute, from a renewed cross by Edmilson, Olunga almost added a new goal for Al Duhail, but his header passed safely into the arms of Al Ahli goalkeeper.
In the second minute of stoppage time, Benjamin Bourigeaud ended Al Ahli hopes of returning to the match after he added the fourth goal for Al Duhail with a powerful shot from outside Al Ahli penalty area, after the ball rebounded from Al Ahli goalkeeper’s save of Al Moez Ali’s shot.
The remaining minutes of stoppage time did not witness anything new in terms of the result, so the international referee Abdulrahman Al Jassim blew his whistle, announcing Al Duhail victory with a score of 4-2.
With this win, Al Duhail score rises to 41 points to regain the lead over Al Sadd by one point at the end of Round 18.
Scores summary:
Minute 26 (Lucas Verissimo)
Minute 74 (Michael Olunga)
Minute 82 (Hakim Ziyech)
Minute 90+2 (Benjamin Bourigeaud)
Cards summary:
Minute 16 (Al Moez Ali “yellow card”)
Minute 47 (Humam Al Amin “yellow card”)
Minute 72 (Benjamin Bourigeaud “yellow card”)
Substitutions summary:
Minute 61 (Luis Alberto “out” – Edmilson Junior “in”)
Minute 90 (Ibrahim Bamba “out” – Bassam Al Rawi “in”)
Minute 90 (Karim Boudiaf “out” – Ahmed Al Sayed “in”)
