Al Duhail's Ali Afif (left) in action against Al Shahania's player during their Round of 16 match.
DOHA: The 2019-20 QNB Stars League’s Week 16 action which concluded on Saturday was also full of excitement.
Only one of the five matches ended in a draw and a total of 14 goals were scored.
The much-anticipated Qatar Derby between reigning champions Al Sadd and Al Arabi ended in a 1-1 draw.
While Al Arabi earned a crucial point in their bid to finish among the top four and thus stand a chance for an AFC Champions League berth, Al Sadd dropped two valuable points in successive weeks even though they stayed third in the standings. They were held 2-2 by Umm Salal in the previous week.
The standings remained unchanged except for one position, just like in the previous week. Al Sailiya displaced Al Arabi from the fifth position with 23 points following their impressive 2-0 victory Al Gharafa.
Nadir Belhadj and Mohammed Mudather scored Al Sailiya’s goals and it was the seventh victory of The Peregrines, who had finished a creditable third last season.
Al Sailiya had beaten Al Gharafa (3-1) in the first leg as well. Al Gharafa stood on 25 points despite the setback.
Al Duhail kept their four-point lead on top of the standings following their 3-1 victory over Al Shahania.
Han Kwang-Song, Karim Boudiaf and Paulo Edmilson scored for Al Duhail, and Ahmed Akaichi for Al Shahania. Al Duhail thus further enhanced their QNB Stars League credentials as they moved on to 39 points, while Al Shahania stayed rooted to the bottom with nine points.
Second-placed Al Rayyan moved to 35 points after their 1-0 victory over Al Ahli, who stayed eighth in the table with 18 points. Algerian attacking midfielder Yacine Brahimi scored the winner from the penalty spot.
Al Khor, placed 10th, and Umm Salal, placed 11th, both collected three crucial points to move further from the danger zone to be on 14 and 13 points respectively.
