Al Ahli came from a goal down to beat Al Shamal 4-2 at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium of Al Rayyan club in Week 6 of the 2024-2025 season Ooredoo Stars League on Friday.

Goals from Idrissa Doumbia (40th minute), Oumar Sekou (53rd minute  penalty) and Abdulrahman Mohammed (69th minute) plus an own goal from Mohammed Musa in the 61st minute gave The Brigadiers the win, while Al Shamal got the first goal of the match through Jeison Murillo in the 15th minute before captain Baghdad Bounedjah scored from the spot in the 78th minute.

Al Ahli have now extended their points tally to 14, while Al Shamal remained on seven points with the result.

Al Shamal, who had clearly been the better side in the opening minutes of the game, eventually got their goal in the 15th minute after Jeison Murillo’s header from the centre of the box bounced off the crossbar before hitting the back of goalkeeper Badreldin on its way in.

Just when it seems the pendulum of the game was swinging in favour of Al Shamal, a defensive error resulted in The Brigadiers getting their equalizer in the 40th minute through Idrissa Doumbia, whose right-footed shot from the centre of the box found the top corner of the net after being put through by Julian Draxler to ensure the match stayed even going into the half-time break.

Sekou got the lead for Al Ahli from the spot in the 53rd minute after they were awarded a penalty kick and that was ratified by a lengthy VAR check following a foul by Al Shamal’s Mohammed Musa in the 47th minute.

Eight minutes later, things turned from bad to worse for Musa, who caused the penalty a few minutes earlier, as he turned the ball into his own net while attempting to clear Abdulrahman Mohammed’s cross to give Al Ahli a comfortable 3-1 lead.

Abdulrahman Mohammed, who had been a thorn in the flesh of Al Shamal for most part of the second half, eventually got his name on the scorers’ sheet and made it 4-1 for Al Ahli in the 69th minute after finishing a fast break with a left-footed shot that landed in the bottom left-hand corner of Al Shamal’s goal.

Bounedjah’s well-taken penalty helped reduce the deficit for Al Shamal in the 78th minute after the VAR confirmed that the former Al Sadd player and now Al Shamal captain was fouled by Al Ahli’s Amin Tihi in the 75th minute.

That was how things remained as the match came to an exciting end, with Al Ahli winning the six-goal thriller.