Umm Salal rallied to upstage Al Arabi 2-1 with an injury-time goal in a thrilling clash and reach the final of 2022-2023 season Ooredoo Cup at the Al Sadd Stadium on Thursday.

Abdullah Khafifi (87th minute) and Yassin Al Bakhit (90+5 minute) struck for Umm Salal, while Ibrahim Nasser Kalla scored the goal for Al Arabi in the 33rd minute.

Both teams played at a fast pace and looked to open up spaces, with Umm Salal holding well to Al Arabi’s aim of making runs down the flanks.

The Dream Team broke the rival defence soon when Abdulla Nasser worked his way by dribbling the ball with a sprint to provide Kalla with the ball inside right of the box to score gleefully.

The goal pushed Umm Salal back a little, but they soon made efforts to come back.

In the 40th minute, Umm Salal’s Vinicius Araujo made a good header, but it failed to beat Al Arabi goalkeeper Jassim Al Hail.

In the 55th minute, Vinicius again had a good chance to score, but his strike failed to beat Al Hail again.

In the 69th minute, Umm Salal were left wondering about their fortunes when Al Bakhit’s kick missed the left post by inches.

Umm Salal kept pushing hard and Al Arabi had to battle to keep their rivals at bay.

Towards the end, there was frenetic action and Al Arabi paid for holding on to the slender lead for long as Umm Salal fetched the equalizer.

The goal came following a long throw-in into the danger area and when the ball fell to Khafifi in a melee and his right footer off a volley went straight through.

The added time increased the scamper, but Umm Salal kept their cool and substitute Atef Mohammed Zaghbani made a pass to Al Bakhit down the left who beat past a defender and struck superbly, much to the dismay of the rivals.