Tribune News Network
Doha
A late but thrilling bicycle-kick act from Julian Draxler saw Al Ahli upstage Al Khor 1-0 in their Week 14 match of the Ooredoo Stars League at the Al Khor Stadium on Wednesday.
While it came as late as the 87th minute of the match, the goal thrilled the fans as Al Ahli’s German professional essayed the fabulous ‘reverse’ kick to leave the rivals in awe as much as in shock.
The attacking midfielder found himself to be in a perfect position to go for the kick after receiving a perfect lob from Erik Alexander Hernandez. The move was initiated by Oumar Sekou who went around from the left to the right outside of the box before passing the ball to Hernandez.
In the end, Draxler made the kick with his extended right leg to find the right corner of the net.
The win shored up Al Ahli into the third spot in the standings with 28 points to their credit, while the result gutted hopes of Al Khor, who remain at the bottom with 7 points.
Al Khor had till the fag end done well to hold against the challenge of The Brigadiers despite suffering the miss of a chance just past the hour mark when Aymen Hussein failed to control a superb through cross from Spaniard Aitor Garcia Flores while being unmarked on the far left and with an open net to aim at.
With both teams battling hard, the breakthrough seemed elusive before Al Ahli made frantic efforts in the end to score, and eventually did.
In the 85th minute, Al Ahli too had a close shave when an Oumar Sekou attempt saw the ball skim over the top centre of the crossbar.
Stoppage-time penalty sees Al Rayyan hold Gharafa 2-2
Earlier in exciting action at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan rallied to stage a comeback twice, including a stoppage-time penalty to dash Al Gharafa’s big hopes with a 2-2 draw.
Adam Bareiro (14th minute) and Roger Guedes (90+2 minute-penalty) restored parity for Al Rayyan after Joselu (5th minute) and Amro Surag (55th minute) had put Al Gharafa ahead twice.
The result saw Al Gharafa stay second in the table with 28 points while Al Rayyan are sixth with 18 points.
Al Gharafa began in earnest as Joselu scored, with his back to the goal, unexpectedly fending off Al Rayyan’s Andre Amaro and unleashing a low but powerful left-footed shot that stunned goalkeeper Samy Beldi.
Al Gharafa seemed to be in the driver’s seat with the lead as they kept Al Rayyan’s defence on their toes with more daring raids but Al Rayyan gave them the needed push back, responding often with brilliant counter-attacks.
The game became even in the 14th minute when Bareiro finished off a move started by Mahmoud Trezeguet, who laid a defence-splitting pass to Murad Naji, who wasted no time in squaring the ball to the Paraguayan to fire home a left-footed shot from very close range to the bottom right corner.
Later, Trezeguet almost gave Al Rayyan the lead in the 31st minute, but his shot from outside the box slightly missed to the right despite goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar already beaten.
Al Gharafa reclaimed lead in the second half with Amro Surag blasting home from the right side of the box. The exquisite goal was assisted by Abdalla Yousif.
Trezeguet, who posed a major threat to Al Gharafa throughout the match, almost restored parity in the 60th minute, but this time his drive from outside the box, following a corner kick, went a bit too high.
Al Gharafa continued to maintain their lead in regulation time and just when it seemed that they were running away with the maximum points, Assim Madibo conceded a penalty two minutes into added time after fouling Trezeguet.
The subsequent spot kick was successfully converted by Guedes to ensure the spoils being shared.
