Al Sadd 2-4 Lekhwiya
Tonight was a tough test for Belmadi’s men. The defending champions have been a shadow of their former selves this season, languishing seventh in the table before this match.

The match itself was an open affair, with six goals scored in total, defending was an afterthought as both teams were keen to attack right from the off. The decisive goal which saw Lekhwiya break Sadd’s spirits came courtesy of Chico late in the second half.

Al Sadd hadn’t lost a match before this clash but they had drawn three times, two of which, came in their last four matches. 

The first 20 minutes were played at a blistering pace with the game being an open affair. Belhadj was set free on 13 minutes but keeper Claude Amin was quick to close down the danger.

Then down the other end, Lekhwiya’s Msakni came even closer when his curling effort, from inside the box hit the post just two minutes later.

Eventually the game settled with the tempo slowing down, the Wolves were having the lion’s share of the possession and an in-swinging speculative cross by Belhadj went through Lekhwiya’s defence and bounced into the goal for the games opener (30’).

On the 36^th minute Ahmed Yasser had to make a goal line clearance, Khalfan thought he had scored but the Red Knights managed to hang on!

Just 30 seconds later Msakni had a powerful shot saved down the other end, after being teed up by teammate Mohammed Muntari on the edge of the box.

In the second half, Lekhwiya stepped up a gear and continued to pressure the wolves with attack after attack. Yousef Msakni in particular looked a real live wire and came close on a number of occasions.



Then in the 54^th minute Muntari had a one of one with the keeper, he rounded cleverly but then peculiarly failed to finish as the ball went wide. However it didn’t matter as one minute later Msakni struck a low driver form 15 yards out to put Lekhwiya into the lead for the first time in the match.

With the restart of the match, Sadd immediately struck back as they went down the other end and with a Xavi assist Belhadj tapped in to make it 2-2. Belmadi could believe his eyes!

The match was now finely poised as the two teams went into the last thirty minutes of the game.

In the 78^th minute, Al Sadd had a great chance to take the lead once more. Abdel Karim had been fouled on the edge of the box by Ismael, Xavi sent in a curling delivery to the back post and Abdel Karim was there. The Qatari saw the ball bounce of his should and just miss the goal.

Mesaimeer 1-2 Al Khor
Al Khor registered their second win of the season after they defeated Mesaimeer 2-1 at the Al Arabi Stadium. Julio Cesar and Madison were the goal scorers for Khor whilst Mohanad Adnan got the consolation strike for Mesaimeer.

This was a match between two teams trying to avoid relegation. Before this match there was just two points separating the two. It was a great chance for Mesaimeer to get off the bottom of the table but finding the back of the net has been tough for Gačanin’s men this season. 

The first half ended goalless with neither side showing enough to register a goal.



Straight after the restart however, Mesaimeer’s Adnan brought down Cesar inside the box. The Brazilian dusted himself off, picked up the ball and elected to take the penalty kick. He scored with a calm chip down the middle. Khor now had their tails up as their confidence grew.

 Mesaimeer were looking for the equalizer and brought in front man Erivelto, in the 60th minute however the Brazilian had little impact on the game. 

In the 79th minute Madison ran down the right flank, weaved his way into the box and fired towards goal. It wasn’t a powerful shot but the Mesaimeer keeper’s line of sight was blocked by his defenders and the ball went into the far corner of the net for Khor’s second of the night.

Mesaimeer’s Adnan scored in the 88th minute when the rebound off Abdulrahman Said fell to him. With this Adnan made amends for conceding the penalty earlier in the game.

This result means that Khor now have eight points. They are four points ahead of Qatar SC in 13th place and five ahead of Mesaimeer who are still bottom of the table.