Akram Afif starred with a hat-trick as Al-Sadd defeated Al-Arabi 4-2 in their derby clash in the QNB Stars League Round 16 game which was played on Saturday at the Grand Hamad Stadium.
Santi Cazorla opened the scoring for Al-Sadd in the 7th minute with a penalty. Al-Arabi then had an effort disallowed for offside, before equalising with a penalty of their own in the 45th minute, through Hamed Ismail. In first half stoppage time, Akram Afif ensured Al-Sadd went into the break on top with a deflected finish to make it 2-1.
After the restart, Abdulqadir Ilyas levelled the score once again for Al-Arabi but Akram struck with his second a couple of minutes later to restore the Wolves’ advantage.
In the 84th minute, Akram completed his hat-trick and put the match beyond doubt.
With this victory, the Wolves moved away at the top of the standings with a tally of 37 points, with 3 postponed matches remaining to be played, against Al Wakrah, Qatar and Al Rayyan.
MATCH DETAILS
Al Sadd x Al Arabi (Round 16 of the QNB Stars League)
Venue:
Grand Hamad Stadium, Al Arabi SC
Lineups:
Al-Sadd: Meshal Barsham, Tarek Salman, Musab Khidir, Abdelkarim Hassan, Jung Woo-young, Ali Asad, Hassan Al-Haydos, Rodrigo Tabata (Andre Ayew), Akram Afif, Guilherme Torres, Santi Cazrola
Al-Arabi: Saatae Al-Abbasi, Muhammad Badr Sayyar, Abdullah Marafie, Ahmed Fathi, Adama Diomande, Hamed Ismail, Youssef Muftah, Aron Einar, Ahmed Suhail, Abdulqadir Ilyas, Farshid Esmaili
Result:
Al-Sadd won 4-2
Goals:
Santi Cazorla 7’ (penalty)
Hamed Ismail 45’ (penalty)
Akram Afif 45+2’, 54’, 84’
Abdulqadir Ilyas 52’
Bookings:
Musaab Khidir 44’
Jung Woo-young 78’
Referees:
Abdulrahman Al Jassim (main referee)
Saoud Ahmed (assistant 1)
Youssef Al-Shammari (assistant 2)
Jamal Omar (fourth official)
