Doha: Al Duhail trounced Al Arabi 5-0 in Week 10 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Saturday.
Homam El Amin netted a brace (5th and 16th minutes), while Lucas Veríssimo (9th minute), Benjamin Bourigeaud (26th minute), and Luis Alberto (65th minute) helped with one goal each as Al Duhail extended their lead to 25 points on the standings while Al Arabi remained rooted in 10 points.
The match, a goalfest for the Red Knights with four goals recorded in the first half, came easier than imagined for the league leaders, who seemed not to be willing to relinquish their top position in any way.
Al Duhail almost took the lead within 30 seconds of the opening whistle when Alberto saw his right-footed shot from the center of the box blocked.
From thereon, it was one-way traffic with the coach Christophe Galtier men dominating and dictating the proceedings from all angles of the field, and it was soon a matter of when and not if the goals would come, and the first answer came in the fifth minute with El Amin banging home a long-range left-footer from an acutely tight angle to open the door for the goal rain.
Four minutes later, Veríssimo doubled the lead for the visiting team with a glancing header from Bourigeaud’s corner kick.
A stunned Al Arabi tried to stage a comeback, but it was futile in the face of a resolute and determined Al Duhail’s defense, who mounted a mountain-like opposition to any attack from the Dream Team.
By the 16th minute, any hope of Al Arabi taking anything away from the game was extinguished with El Amin hitting his brace of the night with a low-driven but powerful left-footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom right corner, which, on a good day, Al Arabi’s goalkeeper Jasem Al Hail could have done better in handling to take Al Duhails lead to three.
Al Arabi were lucky not to concede the fourth goal in the 21st minute when Veríssimo’s shot from more than 35 yards, following a Karim Boudiaf assist, was almost finding the target only to be off by just a few inches.
Al Duhail were only delayed but not denied as their fourth of the night came five minutes later through Bourigeaud, who perfectly finished a sublime assist by Ismaeel Mohammad with a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the high center of the goal.
With four goals in the kitty, Al Duahil seemed to take their foot off the gas as they became more relaxed in their play while restricting their push upfront as much as possible.
Despite their relaxed play, the fifth goal eventually came in the 65th minute, with Almoez Ali helping Alberto to register his name on the scorers sheet as the Spanish attacking midfielder banged in a right-footed shot from the center of the box to the bottom left corner.
A desperate Al Arabi were reduced to 10 men with six minutes to the end of regulation time in the encounter after Youssef Msakni got the marching orders for a dangerous play with his initial yellow card upgraded to red after a VAR review to further compound Al Arabi’s woes.
The one-man deficit, however, did not count for much as Al Duhail appeared to be more than contented and happy with their “five-star” performance, ensuring the match ended with scores counted on the fingers of one hand.
