Al Duhail's Michael Olunga (centre) celebrates with team-mates after scoring a hat-trick against Al Markhiya, yesterday.
Doha: Kenyan striker Michael Olunga fired a hat-trick as Al Duhail got off to a fiery start at the Ooredoo Cup, thrashing Al Markhiya 8-3 in their opening Group B match at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium yesterday.
The high-scoring match saw seven goals being scored in the second half but Al Duhail had already killed the game off with four early strikes in the first half.
Also yesterday, Al Gharafa defeated Al Rayyan 4-3 in a gripping clash while Al Arabi beat Al Shamal 1-0 in other Group B match.
Al Gharafa's Yacine Brahimi (left) celebrates with team-mates.
Al Duhail adopted an aggressive approach right from the beginning, opening the floodgates when Ahmed Moein slotted home with an angular shot from the left after receiving Suhaib Gannan pass in eighth minute.
By quarter of an hour, the Red Knights doubled their lead when Gannan struck after an assist from Lotfi Madjer. The pair again combined for team’s third goal, with Madjer scoring off a reverse kick in 19th minute following Gannan’s cross.
There was no respite for Al Markhiya as Olunga opened his scoring to take Al Duhail’s lead to 4-0 in the 22nd minute.
The Red Knights created more opportunities but Al Markhiya avoided further damage in the first half.
Al Markhiyha looked a better side after the break, with Youssef Ramadan pulling one back with a fine header off a corner kick in 48th minute. But any hopes for Al Markhiya making a comeback in the game ended when Olunga fired goals in 74 and 79 minutes, completing his hat-trick with a lob after an assist by substitute Rabeh Boussafi.
After Mohamed Al Hassan scored Al Markhiya’s second goal in 81st minute, Al Duhail added two more goals to their tally after an own goal by Ahmed Ibrahim (82’) and a strike from the edge of the box by Boussafi in 88th minute.
Farid Ahmed Al Marhoobi consoled Al Markhiya with a goal in 90th minute. Al Duhail will take on Al Arabi in their second match on September 26 while Al Markhiya will be meet Al Rayyan the same day.
Meanwhile, Al Gharafa rallied twice to earn a victory against Al Rayyan at Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium.
Al Rayyan went ahead early with a third minute strike from Tamim Mansour, with Yacine Brahimi levelling for Al Gharafa five minutes later.
The Lions took the lead again through Khalid Ali’s goal in 16th minute as Al Rayyan went into the break with a 2-1 lead.
But Al Gharafa made a strong comeback in the second half, taking the game away from Al Rayyan after goals from Ishak Belfodil (57’), Ayoub Mohamad (65’) and Andri Syahputra (84’), before Omar Yasani scored for Al Rayyan (90+4) in stoppage time.
At Thani Bin Jassim Stadium, Rami Suhail’s strike in 45+2 minutes proved enough to give Al Arabi a win over Al Shamal, who will meet Al Gharafa in second round on September 26.
