Al Arabi defeated Al Markhiya by a 4-0 margin in the opening match of Week 10 of 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Grand Hamad Stadium of Al Arabi club on Friday.

Yousef Msakni scored a brace (30th and 45th minutes), while Rafinha Alcantara (70th minute) and Omar Al Somah (90+1 minute) added one each as Al Arabi earned the maximum points to take their tally to 12, while bottom-of-the-table Al Markhiya remained on three points.

The initial minutes of the match witnessed Al Arabi press hard against a resolute Al Markhiya defence, with several chances coming the way of The Dream Team. Helal Mohammed almost got a first-minute breakthrough for Al Arabi, but his right-footed shot from the centre of the box, off a Rafinha assist, went high and wide to the right.

With Al Arabi clearly being the better side for most of the time, it was therefore not surprising that the opening goal went their way in the 30th minute through Msakni, who was well-positioned to power home the rebound from an Al Somah free-kick that was parried away by Al Markhiya goalkeeper Loukay Sherif Ashour to set the ball rolling for his team.

Msakni had another bite at goal in the 38th minute with a sublime shot, but the goal was overturned after a lengthy VAR review as Abdullah Marafi was adjudged to have been offside just before the goal.

With coach Younes Ali’s side continuing to pile up on Al Markhiya’s defence, the second goal eventually came in just before half-time, again through Msakni, whose left-footed shot from the centre of the box found the bottom left corner of Al Markhiya’s goal from a spot-on pass by Marco Verratti.

Msakni almost got his hat-trick three minutes into the second half, but his right-footed shot from the centre of the box went a bit high.

Despite being on the backfoot, things turned for the worse for Al Markhiya in the 58th minute as they were reduced to 10 men, with Mohammed Sultani getting the marching orders after obtaining the second yellow card for a foul on Marafi.

Al Arabi turned the screw on Al Markhiya with the third goal of the game coming off the head of Rafinha in the 69th minute from a pin-point cross from Verratti following a corner kick.

Despite all of Al Markhiya’s attempts at obtaining at least a consolation goal, it was the visiting team that added to their tally to make it four at the dot of regulation time through Al Somah, who finished a fast counter-attack with a left-footed shot from the left side of the box from Mohamed Taabouni’s sublime pass.

Despite six minutes of added time, Al Markhiya could not produce anything substantial as Al Arabi, who still have a game in hand, ran away with their third win of the season.