Al Arabi beat Qatar SC 2-0 in Week 4 of the 2021-2022 season QNB Stars League at the Al Arabi Stadium on Sunday.

Mehrdad Mohammadi (41st-minute penalty) and Aaron Boupendza (50th minute) scored the goals as Al Arabi notched up their third win of the season, having beaten Al Wakrah and Al Sailiya, both by a 1-0 margin.

Al Arabi now have nine points and Qatar SC remained on one point.

The match got off to a pacy start. In a rather surprising move, Algerian forward Youcef Belaili intercepted a long cross away from Al Arabi’s box. After noticing that Al Arabi keeper Mahmoud Abunada was out of his position, Belaili clipped a long ball over his head. The ball sailed past the goalpost to the right of Abunada in the eighth minute, narrowly missing the target.

A few minutes later, Belaili got close to Al Arabi box and unleashed a powerful right-footed drive that caught the foot of Mohammed Sayyar of Al Arabi and sailed past the crossbar.

Mehrdad’s powerful shot – from the edge of the box – was a close affair as the ball hit the outside of the net in the 23rd minute.

Eight minutes before the end of first half, former Qatar international Sebastian Soria missed the easiest of chances just five feet away from the goal. Belaili produced a powerful shot on a direct free-kick. The Al Arabi keeper stopped the shot, but the ball popped in front of Soria who completely mistimed his deflection and let the ball fly above the crossbar.

A minute later, Al Arabi grabbed the lead through a penalty well-executed by Mehrdad. It was awarded when he was brought down by Qatar SC’s Eisa Ahmed.

Early in the second half, Tunisian forward Yousef Msakni dribbled his way past three Qatar SC players, but his cross from close range was misread by team-mate Boupendza who was slow to react with only keeper Jassim Al Hail to beat.

Barely a minute later, Boupendza curled in spectacularly a free-kick from outside the box. The ball sailed above the Qatar SC wall and crashed into the net with Al Hail rooted to his spot.

In one of the easiest of misses, Qatar SC’s Javier Martinez, with time and space, misfired his shot just a few feet away from the Al Arabi goal.

Both teams fought hard, but another goal did not come.