Al Arabi beat Al Shamal 3-1 in Week 6 of the 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League at the Al Arabi Stadium on Saturday.

Yousef Msakni (13th and 54th minutes) and Aaron Boupendza (22nd minute) scored the goals for Al Arabi, while Amjad Attwan (74th minute) reduced the deficit for Al Shamal.

Al Arabi moved on to 12 points and Al Shamal remained on four points.

In the sixth minute, Al Arabi’s Abdullah Marafi produced a shot at the Al Shamal goal following an assist by Boupendza. But Marafi’s shot sailed past the goalpost to the right of keeper Hassan Idriss.

Al Arabi opened the scoring through Msakni when his team-mate Ahmed Fathi charged into the Al Shamal box and slipped in a neat cross to an unmarked Msakni stationed close to the Al Shamal goalmouth. The Tunisian forward deflected the ball into the net with the goalkeeper in no position to stop it.

With early momentum on their side, Al Arabi jumped to a 2-0 lead. Boupendza, with a solo effort starting from close to the Al Shamal box, charged ahead with the ball. Despite being shadowed by Fahad Waad and Mohsen Al Yazeedi, the Gabonese unleashed a thunderbolt that went flat before crashing into the net to the right of the keeper.

In a beautiful long run, Al Shamal skipper Bahaa Faisal ran for more than 20M before he missed the target by a whisker following a shot from inside the Al Arabi box in the 36th minute.

In the 54th minute, Msakni added one more to his name when he found Boupendza with a neat cross just outside the Al Shamal box. Boupendza charged into the box, but found pace to go ahead of the ball and backheel it to Msakni, who easily scored from close range.

In the 66th minute, Bahaa Faisal sneaked into the Al Arabi box, but his left-footed drive was blocked by Aron Gunnarsson, seemingly with his outstretched left hand. The referee was helped by VAR and calls for penalty were dismissed.

Then came Al Shamal’s consolation goal as Attwan found the net after a cross from Jeison Escobar.