RIYADH: Al-Hilal drew 2-2 at Damac on Saturday to stay in second place in the Saudi Pro League, two points behind leaders Al-Ittihad.
It was an exciting game, but in the end the champions had to settle for a point after their Jeddah rivals won 2-1 at Al-Taawoun on Thursday thanks to a last-minute winner from Karim Benzema.
The Riyadh giants had their chances and hit the woodwork early in the game. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic thought he had opened the scoring on the half hour, nodding home at the far post after a fine sweeping cross from Malcom. But the Serbian was caught offside.
No matter, as just two minutes later, the visitors were ahead. Ruben Neves swung over a cross from the right and there was Marcos Leonardo, in red-hot scoring form, to send a diving header into the net.
It was a beautiful goal. Al-Hilal had more chances to extend their lead but were left to regret their wastefulness when, five minutes after the restart, Damac were back on level terms.
Georges-Kevin N’Koudou intercepted Kalidou Koulibaly’s clearance and the ball bounced into the path of Habib Diallo and the Senegalese striker made no mistake in stroking the ball home.
It was a shock for Al-Hilal, but then they were given a penalty just before the hour as Kaio Cesar was brought down in the area. Up stepped Neves but his shot was well saved by Florin Nita.
Neves was kicking himself with 17 minutes remaining as Damac took the lead thanks to a second goal from Diallo who swept home a first-time shot after good work from Francois Kamano.
But four minutes later Hilal were level. The ball dropped nicely for Milinkovic-Savic at the edge of the area and the midfielder fired a low shot into the net.
Al-Hilal continued to push forward but could not get the all-important winning goal and had to settle for a point. Al-Ittihad will be happy for now, but there is still a long way to go.
Earlier, Ettifaq won 2-0 at Al-Okhdood to go ninth in the table.
