A resurgent Al Ahi beat Al Arabi 3-2 in a thrilling and eventful Week 7 encounter of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday.

The Brigadiers had to battle from being a goal down and they launched themselves soon after the half-time break to turn the tables on The Dream Team.

Naim Sliti (53rd minute), Omar Sekou (62nd minute) and Yazan Al Naimat (89th minute) were on target for the winners, while Yousef Msakni (17th minute penalty) and Ahmed Fathi (73rd minute) fetched the goals for Al Arabi.

Al Ahli had paid the price for a bad foul in the form of a penalty early in the game when their Colombian defender Danilo Arboleda pushed Msakni inside the danger area. Msakni himself scored from the spot to put his team in the lead.

There was another threat in the 21st minute when Omar Al Somah scored for Al Arabi, but the goal was disallowed as a VAR check revealed that there was a handball off Msakni before the ball had reached Al Somah.

Al Arabi held on to the lead even as Al Ahli made some raids, but were not as forceful. In the 28th minute, Naim Sliti made a long-range shot, but it flew over and their rivals held sway.

Al Ahli, however, were a transformed lot soon after the break as Naim Sliti made a fast break collecting a pass from Al Naimat to rush through and score a fine goal to level the scores.

Nine minutes later, Al Ahli combined again superbly as Naim Sliti grabbed a header pass to smartly move the ball to a lurking Yansane to put them ahead (2-1).

But Al Arabi hit back eleven minutes later and following a tense goal-mouth action as Marco Verratti sent the ball back towards Fathi at the top of the box to send it into the goal in one-go action (2-2).

The flurry of goals added to the already intense action and both sides produced counter-attacks frequently.

Al Ahli then produced the stunning winner, with Al Naimat sprinting down the left to pick up a long ball. He kept going solo and beat three defenders and then the goalkeeper while falling down, but pushing the ball through a defender’s legs (3-2).

The added time of another 11 minutes also saw frenetic action, but attempted headers from both Al Arabi and Al Ahli players missed the targets.

Al Ahli’s second win of the season took their tally to six points, while Al Arabi also stayed on six points.