Al Rayyan and Umm Salal played out a thrilling 1-1 draw in Week 16 of the 2022-2023 season QNB Stars League at the Al Sadd Stadium on Thursday.

While Umm Salal rallied to overcome the one-goal deficit and hold Al Rayyan to a draw, the match produced many exciting moments and close finishes. Both sides however had to be content with a point each in the end.

Yohan Boli had put Al Rayyan ahead in the 25th minute before Umm Salal hit back in the second half, scoring through Yassin Al Bakhit in the 70th minute.

Umm Salal goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar stood out with his sterling goalkeeping where he not only denied Al Rayyan a goal in the added time but earlier in the 78th minute saved a penalty strike from Boli.

Umm Salal displayed free-flowing attacking play at the start and had some good half chances but they lacked a good finish.

Umm Salal’s morale was dented by Boli, who headed off a good Jeisson Vargas long ball to score for Al Rayyan.

Then on, Umm Salal pushed hard to get the equalizer but their efforts kept getting foiled. Ilyas Brimil had two clear strikes at the goal but on both occasions he was off target.

There was brief joy when Umm Salal’s Vinicius Araujo broke through to strike successfully but was clearly offside and the flag went up.

Then came the brilliance of midfielder Al Bakhit who picked on a pass just inside the box to have a shot at the goal but his kick was deflected by the outstretched left hand of Al Rayyan goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues and the ball went on to hit the left post and rebound. An alert Al Bakhit, however, lunged ahead to score to the left to make it 1-1.

Al Rayyan’s big moment of taking the lead then came in the 78th minute when Boli was held back and felled by Umm Salal’s substitute Omar Yahya. A VAR check reconfirmed the penalty decision but Boli’s spot kick was saved by custodian Ababacar diving to his right.

The additional time of 11 minutes saw frenetic action and in 90+4’ Al Rayyan came quite close to scoring, but again Ababacar and Umm Salal defence dashed their hopes. Following a corner kick action, an Umm Salal defensive header went to substitute Tameem Al Abdulla who passed it to Abdulaziz Hatem whose attempts were then twice blocked by the diving goalkeeper. The ball then went to Boli on the right and he too made a hurried attempt but this time Umm Salal’s Abdellah Khafifi kicked the ball out for Ababacar to hold on to it tight.

Al Rayyan now have 12 points from 14 matches and Umm Salal 10 points from 15 games.