Al Gharafa host Al Rayyan in the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League Week 18 summit clash at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium of Al Gharafa club on Sunday, March 17, 2024. The kick-off is at 9.30pm.

The matches between these two teams are always full of excitement and club rivalry. Their next contest would also be more intense given the teams’ situations, standings and their push to be in contention for the league championship title.

Al Gharafa are currently in second place with 34 points, while Al Rayyan are third with 32 points. The marginal two-point difference will ignite a fierce battle between them.

If Al Gharafa go on to win the game, the difference will increase to five points and if Al Rayyan are to achieve a victory then they will surpass Al Gharafa by a point and climb to the second place.

The Cheetahs have leaders Al Sadd with three points ahead of them, while Al Rayyan would want to cross Al Gharafa to return to second place in the rankings after they fell in the last round following a 2-2 draw with Umm Salal.

As for Al Gharafa, they achieved a 2-0 over Muaither in the previous round.

All indicators point to a hot and exciting struggle between The Cheetahs and The Lions, and the two teams would go all out to get the important three points.

Al Gharafa are motivated by their strong performance and recent victory over Muaither, and their coach Pedro Martins will try to inspire his players to continue their good show in the league, relying on prominent stars Yacine Brahimi, Ferjani Sassi, Ahmed Alaaeldin, Lyanco, Farid Boulaya and Homam Al Ameen among others.

As for Al Rayyan, whose four-match winning streak was snapped in the last round, would certainly seek to regain the winning touch under the guidance of their coach Leonardo Jardim relying on their stars Roger Guedes, Ashraf Bencharki, Abdulaziz Hatem, Shogo Taniguchi, Bassam Al Rawi, Murad Naji and others.