Al Rayyan head into their crunch match against second placed Lekhwiya knowing that they could be crowned QSL League champions, if results go their way come the end of round 20. Rayyan have been imperious this season and so far have only lost once back in December to Al Sadd.

The near-perfect season from the Lions could be topped further in round 20, if they were able to defeat Lekhwiya in a symbolic changing of the guard moment for Jorge Fossati’s side. Al Rayyan have a 17 point lead at the top of the QSL standings.  

Al Rayyan will be without their talismanic captain Rodrigo Tabata who has been ruled out of the match with an injury. Jorge Fosatti’s side could also be without winter signing Fabio Cesar, who is continuing his rehabilitation from an injury picked up in December.

In the absence of Tabata, striker Sebastian Soria has stepped up in recent weeks including scoring a crucial goal for his side in a tight 1-0 win against Al Khor back in round 18. The Qatari international would relish the opportunity to all but secure his side the title at the expense of his former side.

For Lekhwiya, Djamel Belmadi would be looking to frustrate Al Rayyan very much like his side did in the opening exchanges of their first half of the season clash. In fact it was Lekhwiya who took an early lead in the tie back in October through Yuseff Msakni . However key defensive lapses in the second half let Al Rayyan back into the clash, with former Lekhwiya striker Sebastian Soria scoring late in the match to secure a 3-1 win for Rayyan.

Lekhwiya will be looking to winter signing Alain Dioko to be amongst the goals for this clash. He has now scored three goals in three QSL games for his new side since signing from Al Gharafa.  Defensively Chico Flores will have to be at the top of his game to deny Al Rayyan who has scored in every QSL game this season.

This will be the tenth meeting between the sides in the QSL down the years. Both sides currently have four wins a piece against each other whilst sharing the points on one occasion.  So it promises to be a tight affair when these two giants of Qatari football clash on Friday evening at Al Sadd club, K.O at 19:30 pm.

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