Al Arabi beat Umm Salal 2-1 in the second semifinal of 2024-2025 season QSL Cup at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium of Al Ahli club on Friday.

Abdulla Al Marafi (third minute) and Alaaeldin Hassan (29th minute) were on target for Al Arabi as they prevailed over defending champions Umm Salal, for whom Victor Lekhal scored in the 79th minute.

Al Arabi will play Al Duhail in the final, who earlier beat Al Wakrah 3-1.

Against Umm Salal, Al Arabi were up and running from the word go and in the very third minute of play, Al Marafi, after being provided with a fine assist by Rodri, volleyed in the ball on the bounce beating the goalkeeper to his left.

The Dream Team doubled their lead just before the half hour mark, with Rodri putting a through ball from near the centre for Isaac Lihadji to set it up for Hassan to score.

Left with an uphill task, Umm Salal looked at climbing back and, in the 43rd minute, came close as their tall captain Lekhal’s header hit the top of the crossbar and went out even as Al Arabi goalkeeper Mohammed Ibrahim tried to reach it with his fingertips.

The battle continued in the second session and in the 69th minute Al Arabi broke through and Hassan went on to put the ball into the net but the flag went up. A VAR check by the referee confirmed the offside.

Ten minutes later, Umm Salal eventually succeeded in scoring their first goal as Kenji Gorre provided a superb cross for Lekhal to strike. The move was initiated with a fine swept ball past Al Arabi players from near the centre.

A rejuvenated Umm Salal now upped their efforts hoping to fetch an equalizer, but failed to find a good finish.

In the 88th minute, Gorre sent across a cross to substitute Khaled Waleed, but the latter stumbled over in a rush to strike in front of the goal.

Rodri looked to score another for Al Arabi in the opening minute of stoppage time, but his kick was cut off by Umm Salal goalkeeper Louay Ashour.