Al Rayyan's striker Rodrigo Tabata controls the ball during the Emir Cup semi-final against Lekhwiya at Al Sadd Stadium yesterday. Al Rayyan registered a fighting 3-1 win to advance to the final.
A brace from Rodrigo Tabata helped Al Rayyan to register a fighting 3-1 win over Lekhwiya in the Emir Cup semi-final played at Al Sadd Stadium.
The Brazilian-born striker struck two goals within a span of nine minutes late in the second half to take the game away from the defending champions.
After a lull first half, in which no goals were scored, the game took off in the second half, producing four goals.
Al Rayyan took the lead through Musab Kheder in the 65th minute while Lekhwiya bounced back to equalise 13 minutes later With Youseff Msekni finding the net.
Then came the two goals from Tabata in the 81st minute and a spot kick conversion in added-on time of the second half.
Both the teams tried to make early inroads the rival defense.
Al Rayyan came up with a slick passing game in the midfield but failed to break past the last line of Lekhwiya defense.
The Lions earned a couple of free kicks in the first half but free kick specialist Tabata could not stretch the Lekhwiya goalkeeper on both occasions as his tries went off the march.
Tabata was also in the thick of action and played a key role in fashioning a few threatening moves for his team.
Tabata's first free kick in the 10th minute of the match, a grounder, went off target and a second one midway into the first half flew wide off the mark.
The pacy encounter was getting out of control at times and the referee kept things in control.
In the 15th minute, Lekhwiya’s Edgar Silva got the yellow card for a rough tackle.
The Qatar Stars League champions were not far behind and were successful in pressing the panic buttons in The Lions camp a number of times in the first half.
Al Rayyan however repulsed the Lekhwiya threat.
At the other end, Lekhwiya goalkeeper Qasem Burhan came out of his charge to end a few threatening moves.
Al Rayyan keeper came up with an out of the blue save in the 28th minute to deny Lekhwiya striker Ali Afif.
Afif who was put in the clear saw his elegant angular drive hitting the last line of Al Rayyan defense and bouncing back into play.
The teams went into the half time break unable to score.
In the second half, Al Rayyan went into the lead when Musab and Tabata took full tool of the misunderstanding in the lekhwiya defense to take the lead. Musab who came in possession of a loose ball of a Tabata tackle beat Lekhwiya keeper with a deft placement, 1-0.
The Red Knights bounced and managed to draw level in the 78th minute through Youssef.
Al Rayyan took the lead a second time in the match as Tabata finished off a move started by Sergio Garcia and capped a brilliant performance by converting a spot kick in the dying minutes of the match to take Al Rayyan into the final of the prestigious event.
