Al Wakrah defeated Umm Salal 5-0 in Round 1 (Group A) of the 2021-2022 season Ooredoo Cup at the Al Khor Stadium on Monday.
Saoud Al Nasr and Mohamed Benyettou did all the scoring with a hat-trick and brace respectively.
Saoud scored in the 16th, 34th and 48th minutes, and Benyettou in the second and 54th minutes.
Al Wakrah dominated Umm Salal right throughout to get their campaign off to a great start.
Al Wakrah made their intentions clear as they took the lead through Benyettou, their top scorer last season, even before their rivals settled down. The Algerian striker latched on to a long lob from deep in their own half and sent in an opportunistic shot into the net past Umm Salal goalkeeper Mohammed Muntazar.
Saoud then scored twice as the first half ended 3-0 in favour of Marquez’s men.
Al Wakrah continued from where they left off and Benyettou and Saoud each added one more goal to the tally in the second half to cruise to an easy win.
Al Wakrah, who have retained the services of Spanish coach Marquez Lopez this season, seemed determined to put behind their disappointment of last season. The Blue Wave had beaten eventual champions Al Sailiya 3-0 in the semifinal last time around, but that result was reversed 3-0 in favour of Al Sailiya as Al Wakrah had fielded an ineligible player.
And Al Sailiya went on to beat Al Rayyan in the final to clinch their first major title.