Sergej Milinkovic-Savic preserved Al-Hilal's unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season as his header earned the defending champions a 1-1 draw against Al-Nassr on Friday.
Al-Hilal dropped their first points of the season having won their first eight games, but remained at the summit of the standings, moving one point clear of Al-Ittihad.
Al-Nassr found themselves in front inside two minutes when Otavio's clipped ball found Talisca, who took a touch before firing the ball beyond Yassine Bounou.
The first half saw clear-cut chances hard to come by, with Cristiano Ronaldo, Talisca and Mohamed Simakan seeing their efforts unable to trouble visiting goalkeeper Bounou.
Al-Hilal, who had scored 23 goals in their first eight games, came closest to an equaliser after the break when Salem Al Dawsari struck the woodwork.
But the leveller came in the 77th minute when a free-flowing move ended with Milinkovic-Savic heading the ball in off the post after being picked out by Renan Lodi's cross.
Both sides looked to find a winner in the closing stages, with Ali Lajami coming the closest for Al-Nassr, but the points were shared at the Al Awal Park at King Saud University.
Data Debrief: Champions end Ronaldo streak
Ronaldo's run of four straight games with a goal came to an end against Al-Hilal, though he was Al-Nassr's most potent attacking threat during the encounter.
The Portugal captain registered a team-high 0.37 expected goals (xG) to Al-Nassr's 0.9 total, while also having the joint-most touches in the opposition box (five - level with Otavio).
Minnesota 'justified the work' by overcoming Real Salt Lake
Minnesota United "justified the work" they did in preparing for a penalty shootout after beating Real Salt Lake, so says Eric Ramsay.
Loons coach Ramsay invited the club's office staff to attend the training ground and jeer his players during penalty practice ahead of Minnesota's playoff opener against Salt Lake.
After a 0-0 draw, Minnesota came away with a 5-4 shootout victory to take the edge in the best-of-three series, meaning a win at home on Saturday would get them into the next round.
And Ramsay believes his unorthodox method of preparation paid off.
"I would like to think that probably, without that, the players wouldn't have had the level of conviction they largely showed," Ramsay said.
"It was a bit of fun. There was a real sense of us being intentional behind that.
"I was really pleased that we included that as part of our prep.
"I don't think there were big chances given up either way.
"I sort of felt like as we opened up, we started to leak a little bit more space that wasn't there in the opening stages.
"[Goalkeeper] Dayne [St. Clair] was called into action a couple more times, and so was [Salt Lake goalkeeper] Zac MacMath. So I think it was a very even game, and given that we're coming here as the away team under challenging conditions, that's hats off to us.
“It felt like if we if we won, it would have justified the work. If we lost, there wouldn't have been anything we could have done differently.
"We were very solid, very disciplined, and that's one goal allowed in six games, which is very difficult to achieve at this level.
"I'm pleased with the defensive effort. I was also pleased that we were able to start to find a foothold in the game with the ball and create a couple of really good chances."
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Minnesota United - Dawyne St. Clair
St. Clair made six saves in Game 1, and has been in fine form as of late.
United has allowed only one goal in their last six matches going back to the end of the regular season, going unbeaten in that time (W4 D2). This is the first time in club history that the Loons have allowed just one goal in a span of six matches in all competitions.
Real Salt Lake - Cristian Arango
Arango attempted five shots in Game 1, the most shots attempted by a Salt Lake player in a postseason match since Damir Kreilach had six attempts against Sporting Kansas City in the 2018 playoffs.
MATCH PREDICTION: MINNESOTA WIN
Salt Lake have managed just four wins in 21 all-time away playoff matches (D7 L10) including going winless in four straight (D2 L2). RSL lost on penalties in each of the last two away matches that ended in draws (2022 at Austin FC, 2023 against the Houston Dynamo).
After Tuesday's win on spot-kicks, Minnesota have been involved in seven penalty shootouts in all competitions since joining MLS in 2017, winning six of them, including the last four in a row.
The last five meetings between Minnesota and Salt Lake have been drawn after 90 minutes.
Including playoffs, the only matchup that has been drawn six straight times in MLS play is between the Chicago Fire and the New York Revolution, who played in six straight draws from 2021 to 2024.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Minnesota United - 44.5%
Real Salt Lake - 28.6%
Draw - 26.9%
Al Ittihad 1-0 Al Ahli: Al Shehri nets winner as Blanc's side match leaders Al Hilal
Saleh Al Shehri scored the only goal of the game as Al Ittihad edged Jeddah rivals Al Ahli to go level on points with Saudi Pro League leaders Al Hilal.
Al Shehri turned in a cross from Moussa Diaby in the 42nd minute to give Laurent Blanc’s side a 1-0 lead in the derby, while Diaby was denied the chance to double that advantage in the closing stages by the woodwork.
Matthias Jaissle’s Al Ahli thought they had scored an equaliser through their captain Franck Kessie in the 59th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
Al Ahli had also gone close in the 51st minute when Ivan Toney rounded Al Ittihad goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic, but his strike was brilliantly cleared off the line by Abdulelah Al Amri.
Blanc’s side generated an expected goals (xG) total of 1.06 with four of their 12 efforts on target, while Al Ahli ended with an xG of 1.01 with three of their shots on target.
Al Ittihad have collected 24 points from nine matches - the same as defending champions Al Hilal who will face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr on Friday.
Al Ahli, meanwhile, find themselves 13 points adrift of the summit in 11th place with just one win from their last five matches.
Al-Nassr 0-1 Al-Taawoun: Ronaldo misses stoppage-time penalty in last-16 cup defeat
Cristiano Ronaldo and Al-Nassr were knocked out of the King Cup of Champions at the last-16 stage, following a 1-0 defeat at home to Al-Taawoun.
Waleed Al-Ahmed got the winning goal for the visitors after 71 minutes, but Al-Nassr spurned a brilliant opportunity to draw level right at the end of the match when they were awarded a penalty.
But Ronaldo blasted the 96th-minute spot kick over the bar to hand victory to their opponents.
Both teams spent the first half struggling to create anything of note in an attacking sense, which did little to create a good spectacle.
Al-Taawoun looked more dangerous on the counter-attack, with the hosts indebted to a last-ditch tackle by Mohamad Simakan to snuff out a breakaway at the end of the first 45 minutes.
The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with a set-piece goal required to open the scoring as Al-Ahmed headed in from a corner.
Al-Nassr were given a lifeline to keep their hopes alive with time running out, but Ronaldo was unable to convert the penalty.
Data Debrief: Al-Nassr fall the wrong side of tight margins
The result means it is now back-to-back matches in which Al-Nassr have failed to win, which is their first such run since August.
The match itself was a tight one, with Al-Nassr having five shots on target compared to Al-Taawoun's four.
In terms of actual chances, Al-Nassr had opportunities equalling 1.56 xG, although it is worth remembering 0.75 of that came from their penalty. Al-Taawoun, meanwhile, generated an xG of 0.59.
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