The players of Al Sadd and Al Rayyan vie for ball possession during the Qatar Cup semi-final match at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday.
Al Sadd rallied from a goal down to trounce Al Rayyan 4-1 and move into the final of the Qatar Cup.
In the final scheduled for January 17 at the Al Sadd Stadium, Al Sadd will face Al Duhail, who had beaten Al Sailiya 2-0 in the first semi-final on Friday.
Yesterday playing at home, Xavi Hernandez team conceded an early goal and an equaliser was overruled as an offside goal in the 18th minute.
After the initial hiccups, Al Sadd meant business but had to wait till the 38th minute to secure the equaliser.
Al Rayyan opened the scoring in the 15th minute through Mowafak Awad,
Boulaem Khoukhi (38th minute), equalised for Al Sadd and Akram Afif (42nd minute) gave Al Sadd the lead.
In the second half Salem Al Hajri (54th minute) scored for Al Sadd, who were also helped by an own goal by Al Rayyan defender Gabriel Mercado in the 68th minute which made the issue safe for Al Sadd.
Al Sadd started the proceedings on a fast pace and in one such move, Afif shot deflected off defender Khaled Moftah. A few minutes later, Hassan Al Haydos initiated a move of which Nam Thai shot was saved by goalkeeper Fahad Younis. Al Rayyan took the lead after a quarter into the match, Awad shot deflected off goalkeeper Saad Al Dossary and of the resultant rebound the striker headed home into an empty goal.
Al Sadd had a goal disallowed through VAR in the 18th minute when Baghdad Bounedjah put home a rebound off the left upright after Hassan Al Haydous struck his shot against it off a through pass from Akram.
Al Sadd had much more of the ball in the first session and extended their domination in the second half.
Khoukhi levelled the score by heading in a Nam Tae-Hee corner kick from the right.
Akram, who was named as the man of the match, found the mark following an assist from Nam as The Wolves led 2-1 at half-time.
Salem Al Hajri, who effectively marked Al Rayyan’s danger man Yacine Brahimi, then beat off the challenge from Mowafak before slotting home a measured cross from the right past the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Younis.
The own goal came when Mercado accidentally deflected in Akram’s angular shot from the right.
