Al-Ahli, led by their German coach Matthias Jaissle, raised their tally to four points from two matches, sitting in second place.

The Saudi defending champions continued their trend of falling behind before equalizing 2-2 against hosts Al-Duhail in the AFC Champions League Elite football on Monday, taking advantage of the new goalkeeper Artur Diasmas leaving injured in the first half in his debut for the Qatari team.

Al-Ahli started the match strongly, with defender Roger Ibanez testing goalkeeper Diasmas, who came from Le Havre, in the 7th minute, but the Frenchman made a brilliant save.

One minute later, Al-Ahli’s Frank Kessié fired a powerful shot over the crossbar.

In the 19th minute, Enzo Miu took a left-footed shot, but Diasmas saved it easily.

Against the run of play, Edmilson Junior opened the scoring for Al-Duhail in the 25th minute after following up a rebound from the post, shot by the new Algerian recruit Adel Boulbina.

Diasmas’ joy in his first appearance for Al-Duhail was short-lived as he left injured in the 34th minute following a collision with an Al-Ahli player.

Al-Ahli took advantage of the French goalkeeper’s exit to turn the game around with two quick goals at the end of the first half; the first in the 43rd minute with a wonderful shot by Matheus Gonçalves, and the second from a fatal mistake by substitute goalkeeper Bautista Burki.

Burki attempted a pass, but Algerian Riyad Mahrez intercepted and easily scored amid disbelief from his compatriot Jamal Belmadi, Al-Duhail’s coach, who had warned about Mahrez’s danger before the match.

Al-Duhail came out strongly after the break to equalize in the 47th minute through Krzysztof Piatek with a header that goalkeeper Edouard Mendy could not stop.

Al-Ahli almost scored a third in the 55th minute when Ali Majrashi sent a cross, but goalkeeper Burki cleared it.

Piatek missed a clear chance by shooting just wide of the right post in the 57th minute.

Al-Duhail’s goalkeeper saved a dangerous attempt from Al-Ahli’s Valentin Atangana in the 76th minute after a pass from Mahrez.

Burki saved his team from a certain goal by stopping Ivan Toni’s dangerous attempt twice inside the penalty area in the 87th minute.

In stoppage time of the second half, Al-Duhail’s Edmilson fired a powerful shot from outside the box, but goalkeeper Mendy pushed the danger away with both fists.

Al-Ahli, led by German coach Matthias Jaissle, raised their points to four from two matches, trailing by two points behind Al-Hilal, the West Group leader.

Al-Duhail raised their tally to one point, sitting ninth.

Al-Duhail captain Moaz Ali expressed his disappointment at taking just one point from the match.

He told beIN Sports: “I am not satisfied with the result. Al-Duhail could have won considering the chances we had in the second half. We were hoping for a win, but thank God anyway.”

He added: “We must take matches more seriously and avoid mistakes like those in the first half. Thank God we managed to come back in the score and must continue strongly.”

Conversely, Al-Ahli’s Atangana expressed happiness with the draw.

He told the Qatari network: “We are happy with the result. In the first half, we had many chances that we did not capitalize on. Now we must recover quickly to face the match congestion.”

Al-Ahli started their continental campaign with a 4-2 win over Uzbekistan’s Nasaf in September.

Al-Ahli also overturned a three-goal first-half deficit to draw 3-3 in a stunning scenario against Al-Hilal in the Saudi Professional League this month.

They also failed to come back from behind in a 3-1 loss to Egypt’s Pyramids in the Club World Cup.