Ollie Watkins gave Shabab Al Ahli very little time to settle into either half at Kingdom Arena on Tuesday. His first goal arrived after six minutes, his second a minute after the restart, and a 2 to 0 victory brought Al Hilal back alongside their visitors on nine points in the AFC Champions League Elite. A week that began with a continental setback has ended with a rather more encouraging view of the table.

Al Hilal are second in the West Zone after four matches. Shabab Al Ahli, who arrived in Riyadh with three wins from three, are fourth, separated from their hosts by goal difference rather than points. For Simone Inzaghi, there is satisfaction in repairing the damage from the loss to Al Shamal at the first opportunity in this competition. For André Jardine, the first defeat leaves a strong opening record intact but removes the comfort of having won every time his side has played.

The opening goal owed much to a defender’s contribution. Kalidou Koulibaly won possession in the visitors’ half, beat his marker and found Watkins, who escaped pressure from Nemanja Maksimovic before finishing into the bottom corner. It was an unusually direct way for a centre back to influence the attack, and Watkins made sure the work was rewarded. Shabab Al Ahli were already chasing the match before the evening had moved far beyond its opening exchanges.

Another defender helped provide the second. Yusuf Akçiçek sent a long pass behind the visiting defence, and Watkins finished across goalkeeper Matheus Donelli. Coming so soon after the interval, it left Shabab Al Ahli needing two goals rather than one just as they were beginning the second half. Arab News reported that the visitors had managed only one attempt on goal until the 85th minute, a measure of how little their response troubled Al Hilal.

That was a disappointing return for a side whose preparation had centred on precisely these demands. Before the match, Jardine had stressed the importance of defending well at decisive moments, controlling the tempo and attending to small details. His team had already shown it could negotiate difficult Asian fixtures. The previous round brought a 2 to 0 victory over Esteghlal, with Matheus Lima and Juan Bezerra scoring to take Shabab Al Ahli to nine points. Riyadh offered a much less forgiving examination of those qualities.

The result will need perspective in Dubai. Three victories gave Jardine’s players something substantial to carry forward, and one defeat does not remove those points. It does, however, change the conversation around their progress. They must now respond to a setback rather than extend an uninterrupted sequence of wins. With Al Hilal level on points, the cost of leaving Riyadh empty handed is visible immediately in the standings.

Inzaghi knows that change of mood from the other side. Al Hilal lost 3 to 1 to Al Shamal at Al Bayt Stadium on October 27, with Watkins among the players introduced during the second half. Afterwards, the coach said fatigue had prevented his team from sustaining its first half performance. He also explained that Ruben Neves and Sergej Savic had travelled to Qatar but were not fit enough to play. The defeat was accompanied by a practical problem of managing availability, rather than simply finding a different way to attack.

There had already been a domestic response before Shabab Al Ahli arrived. Al Hilal beat Al Fateh 2 to 0 at Kingdom Arena on Saturday, Watkins opening the scoring in the 12th minute and Neves adding the second in the 90th. Tuesday therefore made it two successive home wins without conceding, with Watkins contributing three of the four goals. After the disappointment in Qatar, those results give Inzaghi a firmer basis for his next decisions than he had a week ago.

Fitness remained part of the discussion on the eve of this match. Inzaghi said the involvement of Salem Al Dawsari, Neves and Gabriel Martinelli would depend on their condition, while emphasising the work required to prepare players for overlapping competitions. Akçiçek, speaking at the same press conference, described his efforts to improve his defending and be ready whenever selected. His place in Tuesday’s starting side gave him that opportunity in a match carrying immediate consequences for Al Hilal’s Asian campaign.

Inzaghi also used his squad during the victory. Mohammed Mahzari and Nasser Al Dawsari appeared in the first half, followed by Hassan Al Tambakti, Theo Hernández and Sultan Mandash after the break. The club then announced a ten day training break beginning on Wednesday, with sessions scheduled to resume on November 14 at Almajdiah Sport Hub. After a period in which fatigue had featured prominently in the coach’s explanations, the pause is a significant part of the next stage of preparation.

Watkins has supplied the most useful contribution before that pause. Al Hilal needed to turn a defeat into a brief interruption, and successive victories have made that possible. Shabab Al Ahli leave with their first loss and nine points still to build upon. The distance between the two clubs is now much smaller than it was when they arrived in Riyadh, with the visitors’ perfect start ended by a striker who struck at the beginning of each half.