Almoez Ali scored a brace as Al Duhail defeated Al Rayyan 4-0 in Week 2 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League at the Khalifa International Stadium on Friday.

Almoez’s goals came in the 47th and 77th minutes after Edmilson Junior had opened the scoring in the 19th minute. Al Rayyan’s Andre Amaro also scored an own goal in the 66th minute as Al Duhail maintained their 100 per cent record in the league with the maximum six points from two matches played so far.

Al Rayyan, who defeated Umm Salal 3-1 in the opening round, remained on three points.

As expected of a match of such status, the two teams began on a cautious note, with nothing much separating them as they weighed each other up, with the goalkeepers having next to nothing to do in the first 10 minutes.

Al Duhail’s Luis Alberto was the first to test Al Rayyan goalkeeper Fahad Younes in the 11th minute with a 25-yard low shot, but the 30-year-old Qatari shot stopper had no problems handling the Spanish attacking midfielder’s attempt.

Eight minutes later, The Red Knights took the lead through Edmilson, who finished off a sublime pass by Alberto, following a blunder in the midfield by Rodrigo Moreno who, in an attempt to make a back pass, miscued the ball into the waiting legs of the Spaniard. Alberto had a measured and timely run before teeing off the ball to the Brazilian winger to blast home, to the delight of their teeming fans.

The goal appeared to galvanize The Lions into action as they went in search of an equalizer, but without any immediate success. Moreno had an opportunity at redemption in the 42nd minute, but his low but powerful outside-of-the-box strike narrowly grazed the near post on its way out as a stretched goalkeeper Salah Zakaria made a finger-tip save.

The lone goal from Edmilson became the only difference between the two sides as the first 45 minutes came to an interesting end.

A shoddy defending from Al Rayyan, two minutes into the second half, left Al Duhail captain Almoez clearly unmarked and the Qatar international wasted no time in slotting home from an overhead pass by Homam Al Ameen to double the lead for coach Christophe Galtier’s team.

Undaunted by the setback, Al Rayyan maintained their composure as they attempted to minimize the damage as they pressed hard against their opponents, who brilliantly soaked up the pressure while springing occasional counterattacks in a bid to extend their lead.

Goalkeeper Zakaria was again called into action by Moreno in the 60th minute  and he rose to the occasion by saving the obviously goal-bound strike from the Al Rayyan forward.

Almoez had a chance to double his tally in the 62nd minute as he was well-placed to slot in the rebound from Alberto’s strike, but his shot went narrowly wide.

The Red Knights did not have to wait for too long to make it three as an own goal from Amaro, from a set-piece situation, put paid to that three minutes later to the disappointment of both the bench and stands of The Lions.

Ismail Mohammed had a great opportunity to make it 4-0 for Al Duhail in the 74th minute, but his shot went wide from a very advantageous position.

Three minutes later, Almoez’s powerful header from a corner kick by Alberto was just too hot for goalkeeper Younes to handle as the ball effortlessly sailed into the net to give Al Duhail an unassailable lead.

The fourth goal literally took the wind off the sails of the Al Rayyan side as they were mostly pegged into their own half for the remainder of the match, with Al Duhail baying for more blood before the referee finally put an end to the almost one-sided encounter.