Big teams Al Rayyan and Al Gharafa were locked in an entertaining 1-1 draw in Week 9 of the QNB Stars League at the Al Sadd Stadium on Saturday.

Al Rayyan scored through Rodrigo Tabata in the 67th minute, but Al Gharafa equalised when Diogo Amado found the net in the 83rd minute.

Slovakian midfielder Vladimir Weiss, captaining Al Gharafa in the absence of Dutch star and regular skipper Wesley Sneijder who is nursing an injury, unleashed a powerful shot from the edge of the box, but the ball sailed above the Al Rayyan crossbar in the ninth minute.

In the 27th minute, Al Gharafa keeper Yousef Hassan got sandwiched between high jumps by Tabata and striker Sebastian Soria who wanted to deflect the ball on a loopy cross. Despite the jumps by the two, the goalkeeper managed to palm the ball away to kill the move.

Six minutes later, Soria jumped high again to head the ball, but the deflection narrowly missed the Al Gharafa crossbar.

Moments later, Weiss was shown the yellow card for arguing with the referee over a team-mate’s tackle on an Al Rayyan player.

Two minutes into the second half, Al Rayyan pounded Al Gharafa backline, but Tabata’s shot from inside the box was blocked by Yousef.

Al Rayyan scored when Tabata converted an easy penalty. Tabata shot the ball straight into the net with keeper Yousef diving to his left.

Just as Al Rayyan thought they might walk away with three points, Al Gharafa equalised through Amado.