Al Shahania and Al Ahli drew 1-1 in the opening match Round 4 (Group A) of 2024-2025 season QSL Cup at the Suhaim Bin Hamad Stadium of Qatar SC on Friday.

Lotfi Madjer opened the scoring for Al Shahania in the 23rd minute before Oumar Sekou got Al Ahli’s equalizer in the 50th minute to move The Brigadiers to four points, while Al Shahania’s points tally stood at two.

The game had a slow start with little or no major action witnessed until the 22nd minute, when the game burst into life with Al Ahli’s Erik Exposito almost opening the scoring from a very advantageous position, but the Spaniard’s shot went rather high and wide.

Al Ahli’s miss turned out to be Al Shahania’s advantage as the hosts made a quick counter from the resulting miss, which ended with Madjer finding the back of the net in the 23rd minute after an inch-perfect diagonal pass from Mohammed Ebrahim.

Al Ahli went to work immediately after the stunning goal with the aim of getting a quick equalizer but for all their efforts, including a late rally in the dying minutes of the first half, Al Shahania’s defence stood rock-solid as they maintained their lead heading into the second half.

Al Ahli started the second half on a strong note, pegging Al Shahania inside their own half for the first few minutes and their efforts eventually paid off five minutes into the second half when Julian Draxler perfectly set up Sekou, who got them the equalizer with a sharp right-footed low-driven shot that located the left side of goalkeeper Shehab Ellethy’s net.

Draxler almost took the lead for his team in the 75th minute when a cleared ball inside Al Shahania’s final third found the former German international in an unmarked position, but his attempted lob went out of touch for a goal kick.

Mohammed Abu Shanab missed what would have been Al Shahania’s winner in three minutes of added time after being perfectly set up by Andreas van Beek following a fast break, but he missed the obvious sitter to the disappointment of everyone to ensure the game ended one apiece between the two teams.