The towering Harambee Star was on target but his goal could not help the Qatari giants as they exited the Emir Cup. Kenya striker Michael Olunga scored for Al Duhail SC but it was not enough to keep his team in the Emir Cup as they suffered a 2-1 defeat to Al Rayyan in the quarter-final stage on Monday night. It was Rayyan who took the lead in the battle at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium when Dame Traore scored in the 13th minute and Yacine Brahimi made it 2-0 in the 59th minute before Olunga reduced the deficit in the 81st minute but it was not enough to keep them in the competition.

The defeat means Olunga’s Al Duhail, who finished second to Al Sadd in the Qatar Stars League and had also failed to live up to their expectations in the Asian Champions League in Saudi Arabia after failing to reach the quarter-final stage, will now end the season without a trophy. However, they had the better of the exchanges in the opening minutes and could have gone two goals up in the first 10 minutes of play as in the first instance, Olunga found himself in a great position to score in the 5th minute but his powerful header from the centre of the box just sailed over the crossbar.

Three minutes later, the Al Rayyan goal had another escape as Almoez Ali’s thundering shot from outside the penalty area missed the net by inches. But with the game seemingly under Al Duhail’s control, Al Rayyan broke their momentum with a lucky strike in the 13th minute. From a well-delivered corner courtesy of Abdulaziz Hatem, French-born Traore rose the highest to head the ball home for a 1-0 half-time scoreline.

On resumption, both teams continued to search for goals with Olunga once again missing two open chances in the 46th and 51st minute and Rayyan took the advantage to score their second goal as they won a penalty in the 58th minute which Brahimi converted to send the keeper the wrong way. Despite Olunga scoring for Duhail in the 81st minute from a header, from a Khalid Mohamed cross, the goal was not enough for Duhail, who also saw their captain Almoez Ali red-carded in extra time. After defeating Duhail, Rayyan will now face Al Sadd in the final of the competition at the same venue on Friday.