Al Duhail and Al Sadd played out an edge-of-the-seat 3-3 draw in Week 9 of the 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Wednesday.

Michael Olunga (24th and 89th minutes) scored for Al Duhail, who were also helped by an own goal by Al Sadd defender Pedro in the 31st minute.

Baghdad Bounedjah (fourth minute), Boualem Khoukhi (73rd minute) and substitute Rodrigo Tabata (74th minute) scored the goals for Al Sadd.

Al Duhail and Al Sadd now have 22 and 25 points respectively.

The humdinger of a match, between two of the strongest title contenders and teams occupying the first two positions in the table, lived up to its billing, true to the star-studded line-up on both sides.

Ball possession was almost even and both teams created chances right throughout the fast-paced game.

Al Sadd took the lead, but Al Duhail were up 2-1 by half-time.

In hindsight, Al Duhail had an upper hand despite an early deficit, while Al Sadd bounced back strongly in the second session.

The Wolves’ cause was helped by the red-card suspension (second yellow) to Al Duhail’s Luis Martin Junior in the 45th minute following his foul on Bounedjah.

The teams matched each other ball for ball.

Bounedjah took Al Sadd ahead early by heading in Jung Woo-Young’s long lob.

Al Duhail equalized when Olunga nodded home Edmilson Junior’s corner.

The Red Knights’ second goal came in similar fashion as Olunga’s header off Edmilson’s corner went in off Pedro’s leg as a deflection.

Other than the goals in the first half, Olunga skied a bullet shot from an advantageous position.

For Al Sadd, Santi Cazorla’s quick shot went wide and captain Hassan Al Haydous’ free-kick flew wide of the target.

On to the second half, the game changer for Al Sadd was the 57th-minute substitution of Tabata, who came in for Ali Asad.

Tabata immediately made an impact, in the 60th minute, but his header off Guillerme Torres cross from the right, was pushed out by Al Duhail goalkeeper Salah Zakaria.

Al Sadd made a sudden spurt that saw them score two goals in as many minutes.

First, Khoukhi headed in Tabata’s corner kick and then the latter himself got into the scoring act with the help of Al Haydous.

As Al Sadd were cruising towards victory, Al Duhail fought hard despite the numerical disadvantage and Olunga yet again did the rescue act for his team in the closing minutes with another header off Ismail Mohammed’s cross and the teams deservedly shared the spoils.