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Al Ahli hold Saudi’s Al Hilal

Al Hilal assistant coach Herve Guegan felt satisfied with the single point that his side picked up in their AFC Champions League opener on Wednesday as the Saudi club came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates.

The home side were heading for an opening defeat in Group D when Luis Jiminez and Grafite (Edinaldo Batista Libânio) struck early in the second half at the King Fahd International Stadium.

But Nassir Al Shamrani scored twice to level the score and maintain the club’s unbeaten record against Al Ahli in the AFC Champions League. Speaking in the absence of head coach Sami Al Jaber, who had been taken ill before the match, Guegan expressed his relief at the result.

“The match today was different and there were some unusual conditions including the absence of coach Sami Al Jaber due to a sudden sickness,” said the Frenchman.

“The result is not bad taking into consideration that we got a draw after we were two goals down.”

Al Ahli have still yet to win an away game in the competition but coach Cosmin Olaroiu still felt that the result was a good one for his side.

“We went into the match in order to get a victory and we controlled the match and created many scoring chances,” said the Romanian.

“We tried our best to get the three points but the draw is still a good result especially as we were playing away from home and against a strong team like Al Hilal.

“We made some changes in the second half as we were looking to score more goals in order to secure the victory. However, Al Hilal have good players and they showed a good tactical performance and the result is fair for the two teams.”