Doha: Romain Saïss’s own goal ensured a 1-0 victory for Qatar SC against Al Sadd in Week 13 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium of Al Sadd club on Thursday.
The lone goal of the match came in the 83rd minute as Qatar SC increased their points tally to 13 while Al Sadd remained on 25.
A determined Al Sadd started the match on the offensive, pegging Qatar SC to their own half for most of the early minutes, and Akram Afif was close to giving them the opener in the seventh minute if not for the offside flag that halted the advancement of the reigning Asian Player of the Year.
Qatar SC began to get in the rhythm with each passing minute, and Ataa Jaber missed a golden opportunity in the 18th minute when his right-footed shot from outside the box went just inches off the mark. By the 34th minute, it was the turn of Carlinhos to get the crowd on their feet in anticipation of a goal, but his thunderous shot from outside the box from an assist by Ben Malango missed by a hair’s breadth to the left.
Despite a couple of other opportunities on both sides thereon, the scoreline remained goalless before the referee ended the first half of the highly entertaining match.
Al Sadd had the first opportunity of the second half with Giovani having a shot at goal two minutes into the resumption, but his left shot from outside the box was easily saved by goalkeeper Satea Al Abbasi.
The ding-dong continued with none of the “gladiators” ready to blink first.
Afif uncharacteristically missed arguably the best opportunity of the match till now in the 69th minute when he tamely directed his header from a precise cross by Paulo Silva into the waiting hands of goalkeeper Al Abbasi.
The stalemate was, however, broken in the 83rd minute, albeit through an own goal, when Saïss, in an attempt to clear the ball following a corner kick, inadvertently headed the ball into his own net to give Qatar SC the lead.
A stunned Al Sadd went immediately in search of an equaliser and Saïss seemed to have gotten a redemption for his earlier mistake in three minutes of added time, but his stunning goal was chalked off after being flagged for offside.
Goalkeeper Al Abbasi made a last-gasp stunning save in nine minutes of added time to deny what could have been an equaliser by Al Sadd’s Tarek Salman as The Kings ensured that the scoreline remained unchanged with the maximum points in their kitty.
