DOHA: Umm Salal’s captain, Victor Lekhal, scored an own goal as Al Duhail defeated the Orange Fortress 1-0 in the opening match of Week 3 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Khalifa International Stadium on Thursday.
Lekhal’s goal came in the 49th minute, as Al Duhail now have the maximum nine points from the three matches played so far, while Umm Salal remained on three points, having won only one match till now.
As expected, league-leaders Al Duhail took the battle to the gates of Umm Salal right from the blast of the opening whistle, and they pegged the Orange Fortress to their own half of the field for most of the initial quarter of an hour, with Luis Alberto, Edmilson Junior and Bassam Al Rawi all having opportunities to test the resolve of goalkeeper Louay Ashour in goal for the away team, albeit without success.
Ashour was particularly impressive in parrying away an Edmilson outside-of-the-box strike, that seemed destined to hit the target, in the 19th minute as Umm Salal continued to soak up the pressure from the Red Knights.
Edmilson, who had been impressive upfront for Al Duhail, was unfortunately forced off the pitch in the 30th minute after suffering an injury, and he was subsequently replaced by Sultan Al Brake.
Alberto could have scored one of the best goals of the new season so far in the 42nd minute after watlzing his way through a myriad of Umm Salal’s defence in the 18-yard box, only to have his shot narrowly graze the upright on its way out.
For all their efforts, however, Al Duhail could not break down the fortress of opposition mounted by their opponents in orange as the first half ended.
The concluding half of the match started like the first, with Al Duhail continuing to knock on the door of Umm Salal in search of goals.
Things eventually went their way in the 49th minute, with Umm Salal’s captain Lekhal turning the ball into his own net in an attempt to clear the ball from Alberto’s cross following a corner-kick.
Three minutes later, Karim Boudiaf appeared to have doubled the lead for the Red Knights with a powerful header from a cross by Ismail Mohamad, but the goal was eventually overruled by the VAR for offside positioning.
Unsatisfied with their lone-goal lead, Al Duhail continued their relentless assault on Umm Salal’s defence and they were almost rewarded with another goal in the 65th minute after some powerful display inside the Orange Fortress final third ended with a powerful strike by Al Brake that hit the upright before bouncing back in with no one on hand to convert the rebound.
Umm Salal had one of their best opportunities of the night in the 72nd minute, with Marouane Louadni having a glancing header at goal following a setpiece situation, but Al Duhail’s goalkeeper Salah Zakaria did quite well to save the attempt.
Another opportunity came the way of Umm Salal four minutes later, with Antonio Mance somehow finding the way between two of Al Duhail’s defence to poke the ball to the far left corner of Zakaria’s goal, but the Qatari international managed to push the ball away for a corner kick.
With the game coming to its final minutes, Al Duahil’s captain, Almoez Ali, had an opportunity to consolidate his team’s lead in the 86th minute following a sublime pass by Ismail Mohamad, but his feeble attempt at goal posed no trouble for goalkeeper Ashour in handling.
The highly entertaining match eventually ended with only Lekhal’s own goal separating the two sides as Al Duhail maintained their 100 percent start to the new season.
