Table toppers Al Sadd continued their dominance in the 2023-2024 season Expo Stars League as they rallied from being two goals down to beat Muaither 4-2 in a thrilling Week 18 match at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium of Al Sadd club on Friday.

The eventful clash saw three penalties and also a hat-trick from Al Sadd’s mercurial player Akram Afif, who took his tally as the league’s top scorer to 21 goals.  

While Ayman El Hassouni (39th-minute penalty) and Tiago Leanco (45th minute) scored for Muaither, Al Sadd hit back with goals from Tarek Salman (48th minute) and Afif (73rd-minute penalty, 77th-minute penalty and 90+8 minute).

The win took Al Sadd’s tally to a whopping 40 points from 17 games, while Muaither remained on 11 points.

Al Sadd had begun strongly with Afif attacking the rival goal in the very fifth minute of the game, but an alert Muaitheer goalkeeper Ivanildo Rodrigues stood guard foiling the chances.

In the 15th minute, Afif pressed from the left again, but Rodrigues deflected the kick again. In the 25th minute, an Afif kick also went just over the crossbar.

Muaither then gained a penalty after Al Sadd defender Amin Hasbavi was shown a yellow card for fouling a rival player inside the danger area. El Hassouni scored from the spot and Muaither were up 1-0.

Muaither doubled the lead just before the half-time whistle when in a quick counter-offensive and in an Al Sadd defensive lapse, Leanco snatched the ball from Hasbavi to dash in and score to the left of goalkeeper Yousef Abdullah (2-0).

It seemed an uphill task, but Al Sadd came back strongly in the second session as skipper Hassan Al Haydous lobbed a fine ball from the left for Salman on the right to make a header and score (1-2).

The battle then continued with both sides coming close to scoring, but with no success.

Al Sadd finally found the equalizer after they won a penalty and Afif scored from the spot to make it 2-2.

Four minutes later, Muaither’s Hugo Gomes erred by committing a foul inside the danger zone and Al Sadd were awarded another penalty kick and Afif scored again – this time to the right of the goalkeeper as The Wolves went up 3-2.

Afif then added to Al Sadd’s celebrations by scoring after moving in from the left and firing in from the centre top of the box (4-2). Afif was provided with a golden pass by substitute Hashem Ali.