Doha: Al Sadd survived Al Gharafa’s scare in their 4-2 win in Week 6 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium of Al Sadd club on Thursday.
Three first half goals from Pedro Miguel (4th minute), Cristo González (7th minute), and Akram Afif (27th minute), followed by a stoppage time goal (90th + 9 minutes) by Hassan Al Haydos, gave The Wolves the win, while Al Gharafa got their two goals through Joselu (42nd minute) and Yacine Brahimi (59th minute).
With the win, Al Sadd now have nine points, while Al Gharafa, who have recorded two wins so far in the current campaign, remained on eight points.
The Wolves seemed to be cruising to another resounding victory after bagging three goals before the half hour mark, but a determined Al Gharafa gave them the scare after reducing the deficit with two beautiful goals on either side of the halves.
Al Sadd were two goals up within the first seven minutes in the highly entertaining encounter, much to the joy and relief of their teeming fans, who had been expressing worries after the team recorded consecutive losses against Umm Salal and Al Duhail in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively.
First to score for The Wolves was Miguel, who took advantage of a somehow indifferent attitude from goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar to poke home from close range in the fourth minute from a sublime assist by Abdulla Al Yazidi, following a quick corner kick.
Three minutes later, it was the turn of González to turn the screw on The Cheetahs as the Spanish forward finished off the rebound from a Giovani Henrique powerful shot, after some fanciful legwork, to consolidate the lead for the coach Felix Sanchez-managed team.
Smelling blood, The Wolves continued to pounce on Al Gharafa’s defence and Afif almost got the third for his team in the 25th minute if not for the quick intervention of Ababacar, who came off his line to block the goal-bound shot.
Afif eventually got his say two minutes later with a brilliant goal from an assist by Mateus Uribe to somehow take the wind out of Al Gharafa’s sail.
Jolted by the three-goal difference, Al Gharafa went in search of at least reducing the deficit to a more respectable figure, and their efforts eventually yielded the desired result in the 42nd minute with former Real Madrid forward Joselu finding the back of the net with a left-footed shot from an assist by Florinel Coman.
Such was the situation as the two gladiators headed for the dugout on the conclusion of the first half of play.
A resurgent and rejuvenated Al Gharafa came out to play in the second half, and they constantly put Al Sadd under tremendous pressure with their attack-minded display.
Captain Ferjani Sassi almost came close to further reducting the deficit in the 53rd minute after being fed through with a perfect lob, but his free header from an unmarked position went wide.
While Al Gharafa were up and doing, Al Sadd appeared to have gone to sleep with their two-goal lead. It was therefore not surprising that The Wolves reduced their deficit to one a minute before the hour mark, with Yacine Brahimi waltzing his way past a couple of Al Sadd’s defence before releasing a right-footed shot from the left side of the box to stun the vociferous Al Sadd’s fans, who have not relented in expressing their support for the home team.
Al Sadd got another chance at further extending their lead in the 80th minute after a goal-bound Afif was brought down inside the box by Seydou Sano. The resultant spotkick was however missed by Afif, who shot high and wide.
Despite Afif’s miss, Al Sadd ended the game with a two-goal lead as Al Haydos fired home from virtually the last kick of the game in nine minutes of added time to ensure a first win for The Wolves in three games.
