Al Gharafa defeated Umm Salal 2-0 in Round 1 (Group B) of the 2020-21 season Ooredoo Cup at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Friday.

Saeed El Hajj (35th minute) and Ahmed Al Janahi (85th minute) scored the goals.

Al Gharafa dominated the proceedings and created more opportunities, while Umm Salal’s attackers failed to find a breakthrough.

It was also a battle of contrasts as Al Gharafa enjoy stability of late mainly in terms of the level of their foreign professional players.

On the contrary, Umm Salal are undergoing major changes as far as their players are concerned as some players have left and some are being recruited as the 2020-21 season QNB Stars League has taken a break after three weeks of action.

Umm Salal were keen to make optimum use of their available resources, so the majority of players in their starting XI were below the age of 23.

Al Gharafa too tried out many Under-23 players, as a string of youngsters have been doing well with the side for quite some time now.

Al Rayyan, Al Kharaitiyat, Al Arabi and Al Ahli are the other teams in Group B.