Doha, November 03 (QNA) - Al Gharafa fell 2-1 to Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal in the AFC Champions League Elite 2025/26 on Monday at Thani bin Jassim Stadium.

Simone Inzaghi's side are perfect with 12 points as they sit top of the pile in the West Zone standings and looking in ominous form as they seek a fifth Asian title, the AFC website reported.

There was a scare for Al Gharafa after only two minutes of play when goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar felled Abdullah Alhamddan in the box but escaped from being given a penalty against him as the Al Hilal forward had started from an offside position.

Al Hilal made it count from their next big chance in the ninth minute when Joao Cancelo stripped Seydou Sano of possession on the right before clipping the perfect cross for Salem Al Dawsari to open his continental account for the season with a thumping header.

To their credit, Al Gharafa regained their composure and saw a lot of the ball but it was Al Hilal who were close to getting their second in the 34th minute when Al Dawsari squeezed a pass to Theo Hernandez in the box, only for the former AC Milan man to skew his effort wide.

Ababacar came to his side's rescue three minutes later when he got down quickly to tip away a drilled Cancelo strike from distance, his save keeping Al Gharafa in the game.

The lanky Ababacar continued to thwart Al Hilal's attempt to increase their lead in the second half, spreading himself big to block the rampaging Hernandez after the left-back was released into the box by Ruben Neves just after the hour mark.

Al Hilal's persistent pressure paid off in the 66th minute, Hernandez completed another surging run by laying the ball for Kaio Cesar to unleash an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box into the bottom corner.

There were further opportunities for the away side to seal a dominant performance with a third goal through efforts from Marcos Leonardo, Abdulelah Almalki and Hernandez but they were denied by a series of defensive blocks.

Al Gharafa, to their credit, never gave up fighting and got a consolation goal deep into stoppage time through Ayoub Aloui who blasted his rising shot past Yassine Bounou.

Al Hilal will seek a fifth win when they host Iraq's Al Shorta on November 25 while Al Gharafa meet Shabab Al Ahli of the United Arab Emirates a day earlier. (QNA)