A late goal by Brazilian Ailton Almeida helped Saudi giants Al Hilal

to a 1-1 draw against the UAE’s Al Ahli in their AFC Champions League

semi-final first leg clash in Riyadh on Tuesday.

Al Ahli appeared to be heading for a key away victory at the King

Fahd International Stadium in the Saudi capital when Ailton struck with a

powerful header in the 83rd minute to give the two-time champions a

share of the points in front of a packed crowd.

After a tight first half that saw very few chances created, Al Ahli

went ahead in the 57th minute with a header from former Benfica striker

Lima who nodded in an Everton Ribeiro free-kick from just outside the

penalty area.

Al Hilal, however, were left ruing a missed penalty, Carlos Eduardo hitting the post 10 minutes later.

Al Ahli suffered an injury blow early in the match when centre half

Waled Abbas hurt his shoulder and was replaced by Abdelaziz Saqour in

the 17th minute.

Minutes later Ailton’s attempt from outside the area just went wide

while Salmin Khamis  brought off a fine clearance after the ball had

slipped through goalkeeper Ahmed Mahamoud’s  hands following a shot by

Mohamed al-Burayk.

The game picked up pace in the second session but both teams failed to convert their chances.

Al Hilal had a golden opportunity 10 minutes after resumption, but

Salem al-Dawsari failed to capitalize on it by shooting over the bar.

It was a costly miss as Al Ahli went ahead just a minute later,

Everton Ribeiro’s fine free-kick finding Lima, whose header gave

goalkeeper Khalid Sharahili no chance.

Ten minutes later Al Hilal found themselves winning a lucky penalty

when Khamis picked up the ball thinking it had gone out of play. Carlos

Eduardo’s effort from the spot beat the goalkeeper, but clipped the post

ensuring no harm was done.

With the minutes ticking by, Eduardo made amends for his penalty miss

with a great corner that Ailton headed past Mahmoud to set up a

potentially thrilling second leg clash in Dubai on October 20.