Al Rayyan roared back to winning ways with a 4-0 win over Al Ahli in the last match in Week 10 of 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Stadium of Al Ahli club on Saturday.
Their sixth win in the league took Al Rayyan into the third place with 19 points from 10 games, while Al Ahli stood on nine points.
The Lions, who were held to a goalless draw by Muaither in the previous round, showed fine form against Al Ahli combining superbly scoring one goal before half-time and the remaining three in the second session.
Rodrego Moreno (fourth minute), Roger Guedes (65th and 85th minutes) and Achraf Bencharki (69th minute) scored the goals.
Al Ahli were reduced to 10 men in the 55th minute when they lost Abdulrasheed Ibrahim to a red card following a tackle.
Five minutes later, Al Rayyan’s Osamah Al Tairi survived a red-card call after a VAR check.
Al Rayyan made their intentions clear as they made a robust start, with Moreno breaking down from the left and going past four defenders before unleashing a rampaging drive into the far right corner of the net.
With Al Ahli receiving a further setback in the second session losing the services of a player, Al Rayyan were in complete attack and cruise mode as Brazilian Guedes came up with a brace, besides providing a fine assist.
Guedes’ first act followed a keen tussle near the flag kick when Gabriel Pereira won the ball and moved it back in Al Rayyan’s possession. Abdulaziz Hatem then sent down a through ball to a rushing Guedes to make a left-footed shot from a difficult angle on the left to the high centre of the goal.
Minutes later, Guedes provided Bencharki with a superb through ball (on a counter-attack) to move in from the left and score.
With Al Ahli unable to make much forays and Al Rayyan repeatedly raising the rival citadel, the fourth goal was realized by Guedes through a header after Khaled Binsabaa recovered despite falling down to make a superb lob from the left.