'When you can't win, you must take a point' - Al Ittihad's Diaby on Sea Derby classic | OneFootball

After a Sea Derby for the ages, and despite a failure to full take advantage of Al Hilal’s defeat the previous night, Al Ittihad still plucked the positives from an engrossing evening at Alinma Stadium.

For that, they had principally Karim Benzema to thank, their captain once more leading from the front. In the fourth minute of injury-time and amid the white-hot heat in Jeddah on Saturday, the Ballon d’Or winner finished emphatically past Al Ahli goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Al Ittihad had their golden reprieve.

A frantic and fascinating Sea Derby, in which the Roshn Saudi League leaders had to twice claw back into the clash, ended 2-2. Al Ittihad’s advantage over champions Al Hilal at the summit swelled a little, to five points with eight rounds remaining.

As those who packed out the Alinma Stadium and the rest watching around the world attempted to catch breath, Moussa Diaby somehow collected himself enough to offer a balanced take on what had just transpired.

“Today was a really good derby,” said the Frenchman, who had earlier scored in the 74th minute to cancel out Roger Ibanez’s opener for Al Ahli. “Both teams played well. We played away, even if it is the same stadium. But yeah, it's not easy to win that kind of game.

“So I'm happy for the draw. And you have to continue like this, because when you cannot win, you have to take maybe one point. So today was good.”

It was even better, Diaby agreed, for the players Al Ittihad had to do without in one of the marquee matches in Saudi Arabian football. The missing included No.1 goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic, full-back Mario Mitaj and star winger Steven Bergwijn.

But Al Ittihad, as they so often have done this season, found a way. As the dusted settled on another classic Sea Derby, this represented a victory, of sorts, for the collective.

“We know this, that we missed a lot of players,” Diaby said. “But everything is possible with this team, because we have a lot of potential in this team.

“So even when some player is not here, with the players on the bench, they have to take the place and play well also. Because in training we always push - and this shows for this kind of game.”

On the opposite side of the rivalry, and initially displaying contrasting emotions, Gabri Veiga rued the late leveller. Still, the Al Ahli midfielder paid tribute to Al Ittihad’s never-say-die attitude.

“In the end, they put a lot of effort in our half, and they find this goal,” the Spaniard said. “I think a little bit lucky, but it is why they are first in the league.

“They have this, we say luck, but they find the luck sometimes. But it's OK. We fight until the end. It couldn't be our win, but at least we draw against a top team.”

Letting slip the victory so late in proceedings leaves Al Ahli still in fifth, but they are climbed to three points behind fourth-placed Al Qadsiah, and five back from Al Nassr, in third.

By no means is a second successive top-three finish beyond them.

“It's our goal,” Veiga said. “It was our goal today to win, but at least we earn one point. We are in the fight. We have to go match by match, win all the games that we can, and then we will see where we will reach.

“But we have to keep going; after this [recent] international break, it's always difficult. But I think now we will fly.”