Al Arabi suffered a 0-3 loss to Al Qadsia of Kuwait in their away game in Round 5 (Group B) of the Gulf Club Champions League at the Mohammed Al Hamad Stadium of Al Qadsia club in Kuwait on Wednesday.

Mehdi Berrahma (28th minute), Jasem Al Mutar (39th minute) and Bader Al Mutawa (90+7 minute penalty) scored for the home side.

Their second win of the league saw Al Qadsia move into second place in the group with eight points, while Al Arabi remained fourth with a solitary point. Al Ettifaq of Saudi Arabia lead the standings with 12 points whereas Al Riffa of Bahrain are in third place with four points.

Al Arabi looked to make a good start with a breakthrough, but several of their attempts were cut off by the rival defence. Al Qadsia broke the deadlock when they won a free-kick, about 20 yards away from the box on the left. Mohammed Soula, who took the kick, chose to go over the wall and Berrahma lunged from the right to connect a header which found the far open corner on the left.

The hosts doubled the lead in 11 minutes later as Mobarek Al Faneni dashed in from the left to lob a ball back inside the ‘D’ for Soula to make a strike which was well blocked by Al Arabi goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada, but the ball bounced out and Al Mutar struck between defenders to find the net.

Left with an uphill task, Al Arabi tried to make a comeback in the second half, but their forways failed to find a good finish despite they coming close on a few occasions.

Later, towards the end when Al Arabi tried to push things, an Abdou Diallo header was held safely by Qadsia goalkeeper Khaled Al Rashidi.

In stoppage time, a counter from Qadsia saw an attacking kick finding an Al Arabi defender’s hand on the way and the referee, after a VAR, called for the penalty. Al Mutawa took the spot kick to shoot in the right corner and make it 3-0, much to the delight of the home fans.