Al Arabi defeated Al Khor 2-0 in Week 9 of the 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League at the Al Arabi Stadium on Thursday.

The game’s first goal was scored by Abdulqadir Ilyas in the 20th minute in what turned out to be an entertaining match-up. Rami Suhail added another one for Al Arabi in injury time (90+4).

It was Al Arabi’s sixth win of the season and they raised their points to 19, whereas Al Khor, who played with 10 men after the expulsion of Korean midfielder Koo Ja-Cheol in the 60th minute, are still without a win and stood on four points.

In the 11th minute, Tunisian star Yousef Msakni, barely 10 feet from the goal, tapped a loopy long cross right into the mid-rift of Al Khor keeper Baba Djibril.

Ilyas also got near the Al Khor keeper a few moments later, but his flick from close range missed the target.

But four minutes later, Al Arabi opened the scoring. Spanish centre back Marc Martinez – from near the corner flag – slipped in a cross for Ilyas, who was inside the Al Khor box. And he smartly deflected the ball into the net past the goalkeeper.

In the 22nd minute, Al Arabi’s Farshid Esmaeili produced a shot at the Al Khor goal, but vastly-experienced Djibril parried the ball above the crossbar.

Exactly 10 minutes on, Djibril was once again tested and he produced a driving stop on a high ball shot by Msakni.

With time and space at his disposal, Al Khor’s Ismail Haddad failed to find the target with a thunderous left-foot drive that sailed above the Al Arabi crossbar in the 42nd minute.

Close to the hour-mark, Al Arabi’s Esmaeili drilled a bullet from close range but his shot hit the outside of the net.

A few seconds later, Koo was shown the red card (second yellow) when he brought down Msakni with a rough tackle.

Al Khor’s Brazilian forward Kayke Rodrigues nearly pulled off the equalizer, but his curling free-kick in the 67th minute narrowly slipped past the Al Arabi crossbar.

There was more disappointment a little later for Haddad, who sneaked into the Al Arabi box, but his shot from close range was blocked by keeper Sataa Al Abbasi.

In stoppage time, substitute Rami ran for more than 40 yards before sneaking into the Al Khor box and drilled a low shot to the right of the keeper for his side’s second goal.