Doha: Al Ahli defeated Umm Salal 3-0 in Week 10 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Al Arabi club’s Grand Hamad Stadium on Saturday.
The victorious team got all their goals in the first half through Erik Expósito (29th minute) and Idrissa Doumbia (36th minute) after Antonio Mance had scored an own goal in the 10th minute.
The result extended Al Ahli’s points tally to 21, while Umm Salal remained on 11 points with 12 matches remaining to the end of the season.
Al Ahli got off to a dream start with Umm Salal’s Mance unwittingly giving them the lead when he mistakenly turned a header into his own net following a set piece by Driss Fettouhi in the 10th minute.
The Orange Fortress fought like a warrior from thereon with the hope of equalising but tried as much as they attempted; it was the Brigadiers who added to their tally in the 29th minute, with an unmarked Expósito having all the time in the world to nod home from the center of the box a inch-perfect cross by Islam Yaseen to the consternation of the hosts.
With a possibility of an embarassing defeat staring them in the face, Umm Salal made a substitution in the 35th minute in order to shore up their defence with full back Omar Yahya coming in for Ali Said, but the efforts appeared to have been fruitless as Al Ahli got their third of the match almost immediately, with Doumbia registering his name on the scorers sheet in the 36th minute after outwitting two Umm Salal’s defender before slotting home a left-shooted shot from the center of the box that left Umm Salal’s goalkeeper Landing Badji stunned.
Al Ahli maintained their three-goal lead going into halftime, and they continued from where they stopped in the second with a series of dangerous incursions into Umm Salal’s half of the field but without further increasing their tally.
Oussama Tannane came very close to reducing the deficit for Umm Salal in the 67th minute, but his power-packed left-footed shot from a set piece just outside of the box disappointingly rattled the bar on its way out.
After several efforts, a resolute Umm Salal appeared to have gotten one back through Victor Lekhal, who nodded home from a corner kick by Tannane, two minutes to the end of regulation time. But a lengthy VAR review, however, put paid to that with the referee signalling an infringement against Al Ahli’s goalkeeper Marwan Badreldin prior to the goal as Al Ahli’s three-goal lead remained untouched, to the disappointment of Umm Salal’s fans and bench as the match came to an end.
