A last-gasp goal from Omar Al Somah, after he had earlier missed a penalty kick, saw Al Arabi pull off a 2-2 draw against Al Sadd in an exciting Week 17 match of the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League at the Al Thumama Stadium on Sunday.

Earlier, Al Sadd’s star forward Akram Afif struck twice quickly in the 18th and 20th minutes for an early double blow to the opponents before Al Arabi battled scoring one through Rafinha in the 38th minute.

Rafinha later provided a golden long-range assist from the right to a leaping Al Somah in 90+9 minute to produce a header which beat Al Sadd goalkeeper Saad Al Sheeb on the bounce before going in. A VAR check ruled no offside as The Dream Team celebrated the equalizer against the leaders.

The goal also resurrected Al Somah’s earlier penalty miss in the 89th minute when his kick to the left corner of the goal was superbly stopped by a diving Al Sheeb. The penalty was conceded after Al Sadd substitute Musaab Khedir made a hand ball while trying to evade a kick as he tried to defend.

The one point gained from the draw saw Al Arabi’s tally move to 22 points from 16 games, while Al Sadd continued to lead the rankings with 37 points.

Al Sadd had begun the match robustly as the mercurial Afif sent in a rasping strike from well outside the box after receiving a superb pass from Paulo Otavio from the left. Soon, Afif did a solo as he broke through from the midfield beating defenders to lob the ball from outside the box over an advancing Al Arabi goalkeeper Jassim Al Hail’s head.

The double strike did jolt Al Arabi, but they hit back as Rafinha made a solid second attempt from inside the box after his first kick had rebounded off a defender.

Rafinha did a more telling job later when he made a long and precise left-footed kick from the right to Al Somah positioned in front of the goal.

It realized many of Al Arabi’s earlier attempts where they failed to breach the rival defence when just on the hour mark, a Yousef Msakni bicycle kick was stopped by the goalkeeper and in the 68th minute when Al Somah’s free-kick went on to hit the top of the wall.

In the first-leg match between these two teams, Al Arabi were 1-0 winners.