Al Arabi rallied brilliantly to overcome a 0-2 deficit and beat Al Ahli 4-3 in their thrilling Week 19 match of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Arabi Stadium on Thursday.

The win also saw The Dream Team reclaim the top spot in the rankings. They now have 43 points and lead Al Duhail by a slender one point.

The match which provided thrills galore to the many fans present at the stadium was tied 2-2 at half-time.

Abdullah Al Muraisi (45+1), Omar Al Somah (45+5) and Yousef Msakni (51st penalty and 88th minutes) were the goal scorers for The Dream Team.

For Al Ahli, the goal getters were Yazan Al Naimat (seventh & 29th minutes) and captain Ali Qaderi (75th minute).

It was absorbing action right from the word go as Al Ahli attacked in the opening minute as Sofiane Hanni beat the rival goalkeeper, but the ball hit the cross bar and fell safe.

Al Arabi retaliated the next minute as Al Somah took a potential strike, but it was staved off by the rival custodian. In the sixth minute, Al Somah was again face to face with Al Arabi goalkeeper Jassim Al Hail, but his kick hit the goalkeeper’s shoulder and moved clear.

Soon after, Yazan Al Naimat produced a double delight for Al Ahli as he first broke in to dribble past four defenders before beating goalie Al Hail for a superb opening goal.

He then returned into the danger zone to score with a belligerent strike from the top of the box from the right for the blaze through and hit the crossbar before going down in.

The twin strikes laid Al Arabi low and they had to battle hard against a resistant Al Ahli.

They finally hit back in added time of the first half as Al Muraisi made the most of a super Al Somah cross following a fine field move to put the ball into the rival goal.

Four minutes later, Al Somah shocked The Brigadiers with a brilliant left foot ballooning strike which went into the right top corner of the net. It was his 14th goal of the season and made the scores level at 2-2.

The Dream Team returned after the break to give more joy to their fans and soon they got a penalty strike after Al Ahli’s Nikola Vukcevic was found guilty of bringing down a rival player. A VAR check saw the referee signal to the spot and Msakni stepped up to score and make it 3-2.

But Al Ahli bounced back again with a move from the left which saw the ball move towards an unmarked Qaderi to score gleefully.

Their joy however was cut short soon by Msakni who was provided with a well-directed header by substitute Rami Suhail Ali to score with his left foot as Al Arabi fans went into a frenzy.