Reigning champions Al Duhail opened their new-season campaign with a 2-1 win over a fighting Al Ahli in Week 1 of the 2023-2024 Expo Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Friday.

For The Red Knights, Kenyan forward Michael Olunga scored the opener in the 21st minute and French midfielder Ibrahima Diallo headed in the second in the 48th minute.

Al Ahli hit back through Eslam Yassein early in the second session (53rd minute) as he essayed a powerful left-foot kick from about 30 yards, which hit the left top of the crossbar before the ball bounced in.

It was also a strong indication of Al Ahli’s resolve, but they could not breach the strong Al Duhail defence thereafter despite several repeated attempts and some quite close ones.

Midway through the second half, Al Ahli’s Ahmad Yasser Sebai did make an attempt from outside the box, but it was saved in the bottom right corner by Al Duhail goalkeeper Salah Zakaria.

While The Red Knights custodian proved his worth, his Al Ahli counterpart Yazan Naim had more to do and, despite his best efforts to keep away challenging Al Duhail raids, he was beaten twice.

He was tested early in the match by Al Duhail’s young player Suhaib Gannan, who first fired a kick off a good pass from Olunga and later hit from a close but difficult angle, but Yazan was well-placed.

In the 31st minute, Al Ahli survived a close call when a robust Gannan kick went on to hit the crossbar, but flew over.

In the 44th minute, Al Ahli goalkeeper Yazan was again all acrobatic as he first averted an Olunga shot and immediately flipped over to the left to save another threatening strike.

In added time, Al Ahli substitute Naim Sliti picked up on an Abubakr Bouyami assist to strike from outside the box, but his shot was well-blocked.

In the end, Al Duhail and their delighted coach Hernan Crespo were left to savour Olunga’s close range left-footed opening goal and Diallo’s fine header into the left corner of the net.

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