Al Duhail beat Al Sadd 3-1 to storm into the final of 2022-2023 season Ooredoo Cup at the Qatar SC Stadium on Thursday.

Tunisian attacking midfielder Ferjani Sassi scored once in each half (45+2 and 55th minutes), while substitute Ismail Mohammed added the third goal in the 87th minute for the winners.

Al Sadd had earlier taken the lead in the 24th minute through Ayoub El Kaabi.

It was Al Sadd who began more sprightly, but a bit unfortunate as an Akram Afif header fell off the top corner of the right post in the very first minute.

Al Duhail then regrouped to find their feet and make forceful forays. In the 19th minute, their South Korean star Nam Tae-Hee had a fine chance, but he failed to beat an alert Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad Al Dossari as the ball was deflected from his raised hand’s fingertips.

In the 23rd minute, Al Duhail’s Mohammed Muntari had a clear chance at the goal, but he missed the target.

But moments later, Al Sadd’s livewire Akram was back in action as he picked up on pass to move in from the left and create a clear chance for El Kaabi to score with ease.

In the 36th minute, Hassan Al Haydous broke through to provide El Kaabi with a pass to score, but the former was clearly offside and the flag went up.

Al Sadd squandered their lead in opening half’s injury time as an unchecked Sassi picked on a pass inside the box and moved from the left to slam in a right footer into the right top corner of the net past a hapless diving keeper to make it 1-1.

The rejuvenated Al Duhail came back stronger in the second half and, before long, Sassi scored his second goal following a corner kick action and the ball fell to him in front of the goal.

Al Sadd made efforts, but they were denied by the rival defence. In the 68th minute, Akram struck superbly from the left, but a diving Al Duhail goalkeeper Shehab Ellethy made a fine save as he flung to the left post.

Al Sadd’s hopes of an equalizer were then dashed just before full time by Ismail, who was put through by Sassi. The Qatari midfielder went on to beat two defenders and score a delightful goal for Al Duhail.