The hosts took the lead after just 12 minutes at Alinma Bank Stadium at King Abdullah Sport City, with Kante teeing up Aouar for a volley in the box, and the Algerian made no mistake with his volley on the turn. Al-Okhdood goalkeeper Samuel Portugal was determined to keep the scoreline at 1-0 heading into the break, keeping out a long-range effort from Danilo Pereira before denying Karim Benzema and Mahamadou Doumbia in quick succession.
The hosts were unable to find the breakthrough despite having nine attempts in the first half, but they needed just five minutes after the restart to get themselves ahead. A move started by Fabinho from deep saw the ball break for Diaby, whose clever pull back into the box was met by Al Shanqiti, who was on hand to fire the ball into the net.
Al-Ittihad returned to winning ways in the Saudi Pro League with a 2-1 win against Al-Riyadh at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium. Karim Benzema scored for the first time in the league since his hat-trick in the opening game of the 2025-26 season before Mohammed Al Khaibari's own-goal doubled their advantage, but Moussa Diaby's red card led to a frantic finish after Mamadou Sylla's 77th-minute strike.
