Reigning champions Al Sadd defeated Al Gharafa 5-1 in Week 17 of the 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League at the Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday.

Al Sadd’s scorers were Abdelkarim Hassan (second minute), Rodrigo Tabata (25th minute) and Santi Cazorla (74th minute), and substitute Andre Ayew (90+4 penalty and 90+5 minutes).

Gabriel Perez netted Al Gharafa’s only goal in the 76th minute.

With this victory, Al Sadd raised their points tally to 43 at the top of standings with two postponed matches, against Qatar SC and Al Rayyan, in hand, while Al Gharafa stood on 26 points following their seventh defeat.

The match witnessed the red-card suspension of Al Sadd’s Akram Afif in the 13th minute for fouling Al Gharafa defender Saeed Al Hajj and also the debut of Iranian Saeid Ezatolahi with Al Gharafa.

It may be recalled that Al Sadd had beaten Al Gharafa by a 6-4 margin in the first leg of 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League.

Al Sadd thus continued their unbeaten run so far in the tournament, the only team to do so.

Even the send-off for Akram, who is also a Qatar national team star, did not derail their path and The Wolves stayed all focused in the race to clinch the coveted league shield.

Abdelkarim Hassan started it as early as the second minute and Ayew, who came off the bench later on, finished off the scoring process late into the game, as Al Gharafa goalkeeper Yousef Hassan had a harrowing time.