Micheal Olunga was once again on target as his Qatar side suffered their first defeat in the Asian Champions League, going down 2-1 to Iraqi’s Al Shorta on Tuesday.
The Iraqi side started with on a high note, taking the lead inside three minutes after Fahad Youssef’s cross from the left flank was deflected into the path of the onrushing Amjad Attwan, who hit a powerful effort on the volley that flew past goalkeeper Salah Zakaria’s desperate attempt to parry it.
Al Duhail responded with a series of attacks over with Shorta keeper goalkeeper Ahmed Basil making consecutive heroic saves, first from Sultan Al Brake then from Almoez Ali.
Having weathered the initial storm, Al Shorta grew into the game and were able to keep their opponents at bay for the remainder of the first half.
In the second half,Sabri Lamouchi’s Al Duhail side came with renewed momentum after the restart and after early attempts missing the target by Ali and Al Brake, the Qataris were finally able to restore parity just before the hour mark.
Ismail Mohammad applied pressure and won the ball high up the field before feeding his Qatari international teammate Ali on the left flank and the Al Duhail captain squared for Michael Olunga to sweep home his eighth goal of the competition, moving four goals clear of his nearest chasers.
With just six minutes to go, Al Shorta took the lead again as Atwan whipped a cross from a set-piece into the far post and defender Saad Natiq headed it across the face of goal and downwards for Mohammed Dawood who controlled and back-heeled it into the back of the net.
Moroccan defender Medhi Benatia was sent off in the last minutes of added time for a second bookable offence, but it made no difference as the referee blew the final whistle seconds later.
Al Duhail will square off against Al Ahli Saudi in their next fixture to be played on Friday at 23:15hrs.