Al Rayyan defeated Al Markhiya 1-0 in their opening match of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Janoub Stadium on Thursday.

New signing Roger Guedes provided the only goal of the match in the 30th minute.

Al Rayyan gave an indication of their hunger for victory from the blast of the whistle and they would have gone one up in the first minute of play had Rodrigo Moreno not been caught offside as Guedes tried a through ball.

There were subsequently a couple of attempts from both sides, but it was Guedes who eventually found the net in the 30th minute to give Al Rayyan the lead. The Brazilian forward, who joined The Lions in the summer, slotted in a right-footed shot from the right side of the six-yard box to the bottom right corner after a headed pass by Rodrigo.

The match was evenly balanced from there on as Al Markhiya, who finished last season in seventh place, continued their search for an equalizer, while Al Rayyan held firm.

On resumption of the second half, Al Rayyan continued from where they stopped as they kept mounting pressure on Al Markhiya.

Leonardo Jardim’s men could have doubled their lead in the 55th minute had Al Markhiya’s Abdelghani Laallam own goal not been overturned by VAR.

Desperately seeking to restore parity, Al Markhiya made a double substitution in the 62nd minute, with Rochinha going out for Naoufal Bannis and Ali Said replacing Moayed Hassan.

The substitution could have paid off in the 67th minute when Ali Said placed a through ball to Yusupha Njie who was, however, caught offside.

Al Rayyan continued to turn on the heat against their opponents, but their lack of a clinical finish in front of goal ensured that the margin remained the same in the end with The Lions.