Al Gharafa beat reigning champions Al Duhail 3-0 in Week 6 of the 2020-21 season QNB Stars League at the Al Arabi Stadium on Sunday.

Muad Hassan (41st and 59th minutes) and Ahmed Alaaeldin (87th minute) scored the goals as Al Gharafa posted their fourth win to be on 12 points and occupy the third place in the table.

Al Duhail remained on nine points.

In the sixth minute, Ahmed Alaaeldin, stationed close to the edge of the Al Duhail box, received a long cross from the half-line. Despite being chased by a couple of Al Duhail markers, he ran a little wide and then fired a shot that sailed above the Al Duhail crossbar in what was the first real attempt at goal.

A couple of minutes later, Al Gharafa’s Sofiane Hanni got a chance to aim at the goal from inside the box, but the Algerian midfielder had little pace on his shot to worry goalkeeper Mohammed Al Bakri.

After a few hits and misses, Al Duhail’s Eduardo Rodrigues fired a bullet from the edge of the box, but young Al Gharafa keeper Salah Hassan produced a dive to deflect the ball away in the 17th minute. Seven minutes later, Al Duhail’s Mohammed Muntari curled in a free-kick that was once again spiritedly saved by young Salah.

Al Gharafa opened the scoring with a miraculous run by Muad who ran solo for almost one third of the entire pitch. After receiving a cross from the centre, he charged ahead with the ball, with Sultan Al Brake giving him a hot chase.

Karim Boudiaf, Mohammed Emad and Muntari also jumped in to stop Muad who, after reaching inside the box, produced a left-footed drive to score to the left of the keeper. It was celebration time for Al Gharafa as Qatar national team coach Felix Sanchez watched from the stands.

Muad was at it again as he beat Boudiaf with pace by grabbing a long cross first. After running a couple of yards with the ball, Muad fired from the edge of the box to score his team’s second goal with a right-foot drive that stayed low on its way into the net.

Ahmed Alaaeldin tapped one in deep into the game from close range to round off the tally.