Curtains came down on the 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League’s Week 10 fixtures as the tournament resumed after a 50-day break, which also witnessed Qatar staging the FIFA Arab Cup.

The matches were played on Friday and Saturday, 24th and 25th December, 2021, and the results were as follows:

Al Ahli bt Al Sailiya       1-0

Al Wakrah drew Al Shamal    1-1

Qatar SC bt Al Rayyan 1-0

Al Sadd bt Al Khor        3-0

Umm Salal bt Al Duhail 2-1

Al Gharafa drew Al Arabi      0-0

A total of 10 goals were scored and two matches ended in draws. Reigning champions Al Sadd posted the round’s biggest margin of victory when they beat Al Khor 3-0.

Al Sadd maintained their unbeaten run following their ninth victory that took their points tally to 28, widening the gap to six points with closest challengers Al Duhail, who suffered a shock 1-2 defeat at the hands of Umm Salal.

Al Arabi continued in third position with 20 points after playing out a goalless draw with Al Gharafa, who kept their fourth place with 16 points ahead of Al Wakrah (16 points) on better goal difference.

Umm Salal are in sixth place with 12 points, on better goal difference ahead of Qatar SC (12 points).

Al Ahli, Al Shamal and Al Rayyan (all nine points) are placed eighth, ninth and 10th respectively.

Al Sailiya are 11th with five points and Al Khor last with four points.

The round saw Al Ahli record their first victory this season with a last-gasp goal against Al Sailiya. Although Al Sailiya created more opportunities throughout the game, Al Ahli’s Nigerian striker Patrick Eze took advantage of a mistake made by Al Sailiya goalkeeper Claude Amine deep into stoppage time to hand his team a crucial victory.

Al Shamal, despite missing their most prominent star Bahaa Faisal who is nursing a cruciate ligament injury he sustained while representing Jordan in the FIFA Arab Cup, put up a good performance while holding Al Wakrah a to 1-1 draw. The match saw Al Wakrah’s Omid Ebrahimi receive the red card in the 56th minute.

Sebastian Soria netted the winner in Qatar SC’s important victory over Al Rayyan. The match saw the participation of Nigerian striker Anthony Okpotu, who was re-registered instead of Algerian Youcef Belaili, whose contract was terminated by mutual consent.

Al Sadd’s new coach Javi Gracia, who replaced fellow-Spaniard Xavi Hernandez, started off well as they defeated Al Khor convincingly.

Yassin Bakhit’s brilliance saw Umm Salal beat Al Duhail. After Al Duhail took the lead through Ismail Mohammed, Yassin scored the equalizer and then gave the assist for Isael Barbosa’s winner.

In the last match, Al Gharafa and Al Arabi shared the points after a hard-fought game.

The QNB Stars League’s Week 10 matches are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, 29th and 30th, December, 2021.

THE FIXTURES

Wednesday

Al Shamal vs Al Rayyan

Al Ahli vs Al Duhail

Al Gharafa vs Al Sailiya

Thursday

Al Wakrah vs Al Sadd

Al Arabi vs Umm Salal

Al Khor vs Qatar SC