A 10-man Al Rayyan defeated Al Wakrah 3-0 in Week 16 of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on Wednesday.

Roger Guedes netted a brace (41nd minute penalty and 61st minutes), while Achraf Bencharki also scored (45+7 minute) as Al Rayyan secured the maximum points.

With the result, Al Rayyan are now second in the table with 31 points (on better goal difference with Al Gharafa who have the same number of points), while Al Wakrah remained in the fourth position with 28 points.

The highly-entertaining encounter got on a strong footing from the blast of the whistle as the two sides squared up fiercely against each other, determined to secure the maximum points, with the game seemingly balanced for most of the early part of the first time.

Al Rayyan, unexpectedly, were reduced to 10 men in the 29th minute after Andre Amaro’s initial yellow card booking was exchanged for an outright red after a VAR review for a challenge on Ayoub Assal for a push from behind in a goalbound situation.

In a dramatic twist, Jacinto Dala thought he had registered his name on the scorers sheet in the 35th minute after overlapping to finish with a cool right-footed low shot, but his goal was subsequently cancelled, and a penalty was eventually awarded to Al Rayyan, after a VAR review, for a foul on Gabriel Pereira at the other end of the half just before the run that led to Dala’s goal. Lucas Mendes was booked for the foul and the subsequent penalty kick was coolly converted by Guedes to give The Lions the lead.

Bencharki doubled Al Rayyan’s lead in the seventh minute of added time with a low left-footed shot that goalkeeper Saoud Al Khater could not provide an answer to as Al Rayyan went to the dugout at half-time with a two-goal lead.

Al Rayyan resumed from where they stopped in the second half with their one-man disadvantage seemingly counting for nothing, as they kept pressing hard against The Blue Wave, who were for most of the game on the defensive.

Guedes made it three for Al Rayyan in the 61st minute after being set up in an unmarked position by Murad Naji just inside the 18-yard box of Al Wakrah. The Brazilian forward then blasted a left-footed shot that went undisturbingly straight into Al Wakrah’s goal.

Despite Al Wakrah’s hard efforts at getting at least one back, Al Rayyan were determined to run away with the maximum points and a clean sheet till the end of the pulsating encounter.