Al-Fayha 1-1 Al-Ittihad: Benzema misses late penalty as holders stutter under Conceicao
Al-Ittihad failed to get off to a winning start under Sergio Conceicao as they settled for a draw against Al-Fayha in the Saudi Pro League.
Karim Benzema missed a late penalty as Sergio Conceicao's first match in charge of Al-Ittihad ended in a 1-1 draw against Al-Fayha.
It looked like Al-Fayha were going to cause an upset when Fashion Sakala scored against the run of play just ahead of the break, but Ahmed Al Ghamdi's header levelled proceedings shortly after the hour-mark before Benzema's spot-kick was saved by Orlando Mosquera.
Benzema saw two early efforts stopped by Mosquera, while Moussa Diaby and Danilo Pereira both failed to test the goalkeeper with two shots in quick succession as Al-Ittihad looked to bounce back from back-to-back losses.
But on the stroke of half-time, Sakala weaved his way into the box for the hosts before firing past Predrag Rajkovic into the far corner to give Al-Fahya a surprise lead.
Al-Ittihad started the second half a lot slower, but found their equaliser in the 64th minute. Diaby picked up the ball on the right wing and picked out Al Ghamdi with a brilliant cross to set up a frantic finish.
The defining moment came within the final 10 minutes when Yassine Benzia was penalised for a foul on Benzema, a call which stood following a trip to the VAR monitor, but the Frenchman's effort toward the bottom-right corner was denied by Mosquera.
Data Debrief: October blues continue for Al-Fayha
Although Conceicao failed to mark his first match at the helm with a win, there was plenty of promise on display.
His side produced 1.97 expected goals (xG) from 14 shots, compared to Al-Fayha's 0.8 from nine attempts.
Al-Fayha have now won just once in their last 13 Saudi Pro League matches played in October (D5 L7). October is the month in which they’ve suffered the most defeats in the competition (13) and recorded the fewest wins (three).
Al-Ittihad, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last 24 post-international break matches in the Saudi Pro League (W15 D9), including their last 14 away from home (W6 D9), since a 0-1 defeat against Al-Wehda in October 2019.
