Doha: Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa played out a 2-2 draw in the opening Week 14 match of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium of Al Rayyan club on Wednesday.
The Lions twice came from behind, with Adam Bareiro (14th minute) and Róger Guedes (90th + 2 minute, penalty) restoring parity after Joselu (5th minute) and Amro Surag (55th minute) had given The Cheetahs the lead.
With the result, Al Rayyan’s points tally now stands at 18, while Gharafa are on 28 points in the standings.
The highly enthralling encounter witnessed the first goal within the first five minutes of play when Joselu, with his back to the goal, unexpectedly fended off Al Rayyan’s Andre Amaro before unleashing a low but powerful left-footed shot that a stunned goalkeeper Samy Beldi’s could not do anything about to give Al Gharafa the lead. The brilliant goal was assisted by Ahmed Al Ganehi.
Encouraged by the early lead, Al Gharafa seemed to be in the driver’s seat from there on as they kept Al Rayyan’s defensive lineup on their toes with more daring raids in their attempts at extending their lead, but Al Rayyan gave them the needed push back, responding to their foray often with brilliant counterattacks.
The game became even in the 14th minute when Bareiro finished off a move started by Mahmoud Trezeguet, who laid a defence-splitting pass to Murad Naji, who wasted no time in squaring the ball to the Paraguayan to fire home a left-footed shot from very close range to the bottom right corner.
With parity restored, both sides appeared to be playing with less pressure as they both weighed their chances against each other, ensuring to prevent any unnecessary risk considering the danger the opponents pose going forward.
Trézéguet almost gave Al Rayyan the lead in the 31st minute, but his right-footed shot from outside the box slightly missed to the right with goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar already beaten.
With a stalemated first half, the second half proved to be a different ball game as Al Gharafa came out of the dugout more fired up and it did not take them too long to again retake the lead with Amro Surag blasting home a right-footed shot from the right side of the box ten minutes into the second half. The exquisite goal was assisted by Abdalla Yousif.
Trézéguet, who posed a major threat to Al Gharafa throughout the match, almost restored parity in the 60th minute, but his right-footed shot from outside the box, following a corner kick, went a bit too high.
Al Gharafa continued to maintain their lead into time regulation time, and just when it seemed that they were running away with the maximum points, Assim Madibo conceded a penalty a minute into added time after fouling Trézéguet in the final third.
The subsequent spot kick was successfully converted by Guedes to ensure the spoils ended up being evenly shared between the two rivals.
