Marco Verratti scored a brace as Al Arabi defeated Al Khor 4-3 in Week 15 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Al Khor Stadium on Saturday.

Verrati scored in the 46th and 90+3 minutes, while Youssef Msakni (14th minute) and Ahmed Alaaeldin (27th minute) added one each to extend Al Arabi’s points tally to 16, while Al Khor remained on seven points.

Khaled Radwan (ninth minute), Ricardo Gomes (45th minute) and Sofiane Hanni (90+5 minute) scored for Al Khor.

The first chance of the match fell to Al Khor with Andri Syahputra having the opportunity to test his mettle in the fourth minute against goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada, but his glancing header from the centre of the box following a corner went a bit off target.

Another headed attempt by Abdelaziz Mitwali from an overhead cross by Syahputra was superbly saved in the ninth minute before Radwan gave them the lead a few seconds later after Hanni latched on to a rebound from Abunada’s save to tilt the ball towards Radwan, who tapped in a right-footed shot from very close range.

Al Khor’s lead only lasted five minutes as Al Arabi got their equaliser in the 14th minute through Msakni, who connected well with Rodri Sanchez’s long-range overhead pass before lobbing the ball over the onrushing Ahmed Basher Ali to the delight of the fans and bench of The Dream Team.

Al Khor went immediately in search of restoring their lead and Hanni almost got them just that in the 22nd minute had his right-footed shot from outside the box not missed to the left.

Five minutes later, Alaaeldin was on target for Al Arabi, scoring arguably the best goal of the match after blasting home a curling shot from 25 yards out from a precise pass by Sanchez.

With the half-time call beckoning, Al Khor ensured they would not be going into the dugout on the backfoot as Gomes restored parity on the stroke of regulation time in the first half from an assist by Syahputra.

Al Arabi, who had been on the ascendency before the break, continued from where they stopped with Verratti putting them ahead once again almost immediately on resumption of the second half, taking advantage of Al Khor’s defensive error to slide the ball beyond the goalkeeper’s reach. The goal was subjected to a VAR review for a possible foul in its build-up, but it was eventually allowed to stand.

Not giving up easily, Al Khor upped their tempo in search of an equaliser in the exciting match that was more of a ding-dong affair. But instead of getting the needed equaliser, it was Al Arabi who extended their lead with Verratti getting his brace and Al Arabi’s fourth in two minutes of added time after Msakni connected well with a long ball from goalkeeper Abunada before making a pass to the former PSG midfielder to finish off.

The drama, which had been the hallmark of the match, did not end there as Al Khor cut the deficit through Hanni three minutes later to ensure the match ended 4-3 in favour of Al Arabi.