Barca edge Al Ahli in Doha thriller

It was champions stuff from a champion club in the Match of Champions. Yes, FC Barcelona lived up to their status of producing a top box display to emerge runaway winners of 5-3 against Al Ahli Club of Saudi Arabia at Al Gharafa Stadium.
Fans came from far and wide to see the match to see their favourite stars and they went home satisfied with the display of their idols, in the one-off match between the two clubs, who are sponsored by Qatar Airways.
The trio of Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Neymar were the most cheered, every time they touched the ball. The trio did not disappoint. Each of them scored a goal each in their stay of exactly an half an hour on the pitch to send the fans into wild frenzy.
The Catalans save for a brief scare early into the second half, when they conceded two quick goals, had the match under their firm control.
The Saudi relied on the occasional break back move to break through the defense.
Barcelona opened the account in the eight minute through Suarez, added the second one two minutes through Messi and Neymar joined the goal scoring party with a goal of his own in the 15th minute.
The Catalans, who went into the half time break with a 3-0 lead, started off on an impressive note and there was no stopping from there on.
It did not take much time for the Barca midfielders to slice open the Al Ahli defense.
Messi setting up Neymar with a perfect defense splitting pass in the fourth minute, however, the Brazilian’s chip found the goalpost and rebounded into play.
Four minutes later, Messi was again the provider and Suarez made it sure the ball went past the rival keeper YasserAl Mosallem, 1-0. The keeper missing Messi’s cross which deflected from Suarez body past Yasser.
Two minutes later, Messi, who till now was donning the role of provider for his teammates latched on to a loose ball at the edge of the box to unleash a left footer which got no answer from the keeper, 2-0.
The Al Ahli defense fell again in the 15 minute with Neymar completing the move initiated by Rafinha.
Thereafter, there was a relative lull in the goal scoring.
Both teams had a shy at the goal, with Barcelona having the lion share of exchanges but could not add to more goals.
Barcelona coach Luis Enrique brought about three substitutions removing the troika of Messi, Suarez and Neymar at the stroke of half time.
In the opposite camp, the Saudi club unleashed Omar Abdulrahman, who was recently crowned Asian player of the Year, in the 30th minute.
Abdulrahman who is contracted with Al Ain club of UAE, was in Qatar as a guest player to play for the Saudi Arabia for this match.
The star player from UAE created an immediate impression with his deft footwork and caught the Barca players on the wrong foot a few times but could not trouble the scorers in the first half.
The Spanish club also could not add to the score in the first half but the Saudi Arabian outfit pulled one back in the second half.
Barcelona substitute keeper Jordi Masip was pulled up for an dangerous foul on a rival player and Qatari referee Fahad Jaber Al Marri was quick to point to the penalty spot in the sixth minute on resumption.
Abdulrahman, who took upon him the task of taking the spot kick, send Masip the wrong way with a perfectly time chip, much to the delight of the 
Al Ahli fans, who had travelled in significant numbers to watch the match. Watched by a crowd of over 18,000, Barcelona again found the net in the 56th minute with Paco Alcacer finding the net.
Two minutes later, Rafinha, who controlled the midfield for most past of the match, added a goal against his name to make it 5-1.
The Saudi Arabian did not throw in the towel trailing as they were by four goals.
Substitute Muhannad Asiri added two goals within a span of four minutes to send ripples down the Barca defense.
Asiri found the net in the 61st minute and completed his brace in the 65th minute. Both teams thereafter did not trouble the scoeres with the final score reading 5-3.
Earlier, the match kicked off with a fireworks display and a musical performance.