Al Arabi rallied to beat Al Wakrah 2-1 in a highly-absorbing Week 9 clash of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Grand Hamad Stadium of Al Arabi Club on Saturday.

Yousef Msakni (77th minute) and Jassim Jaber (89th minute) scored for The Dream Team after Al Wakrah had moved into the lead in the 24th minute with a goal from Khalid Munir.

Al Wakrah were reduced to 10 men in the field in the 78th minute when Hamdi Fathi was shown the red card for a tackle against Marco Verrati.

The three points from the win took Al Arabi’s tally to a total of nine points.

This was Al Wakrah’s first loss of the season and they remained on 17 points.

The Blue Wave began the contest on a high note, attacking from both flanks, and the Al Arabi defence was made to feel the heat.

With Al Wakrah having more of the say, a defensive lapse from Al Arabi saw Hamdi Fathi win the ball, 10 yards outside the box, and he moved it to Khalid Munir on the left who dashed in to score. Khalid Munir then did two backflips in delight, regaling the crowd.

The setback left Al Arabi jolted as they soon rallied to make a fightback. Minutes later, Al Arabi had a close chance at the goal, but Al Wakrah goalkeeper Saoud Al Khater cut it off in time.

The battle became intense and soon saw tough challenges from players of both teams and a slew of yellow cards were flashed. Both sides, however, continued to launch several attacks but could not find a finish.

After the half-time break, Al Arabi brought in Rafinha (Rafael Alcantara), replacing Ibrahim Kalla.

The resumption also saw Al Wakrah run in close as a Mohamed Benyettou header from the centre of the box just missed to the left. A counter then saw Al Arabi rue a chance as an Omar Al Somah shot went close to the left of the post.

Al Arabi’s hopes then were raised for a penalty strike in the 62nd minute as Rafinha going for the ball off a header from Fathi was felled in front of Al Wakrah goal. A VAR referral, however, showed that Rafinha had handled the ball while falling and hence no penalty.

Al Arabi finally clinched the equalizer when Marco Verrati sent in a long overhead ball from far behind the centerline for Msakni, who smartly slid past the last defensive line avoiding being caught off side and went on to beat the goalkeeper.

The match winner for Al Arabi followed soon as substitute Mohamed Hassan Al Taabouni made a superb corner kick for Jassem Jaber who was waiting at the far end to make a fine header which beat the airborne goalkeeper to his left.

Ten minutes of injury time were added to the game which saw some exciting moments towards the end, including a sharp Al Arabi chance which was kept away by a diving Al Khater.