The Brazilian defender scored off the bench, marking his return from a month-long injury absence in style.
Paulo Otavio’s goal minutes after coming on in the second half helped Al Sadd salvage a point at home against Al Hilal in a dramatic encounter at Doha’s Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.
Felix Sanchez’s side had spent more than an hour chasing the game after conceding early to Al Hilal player Ali Albulayhi’s strike, but Otavio nullified it in the 71st minute to mark his return after a month-long injury absence in style.
The 1-1 draw keeps Al Sadd’s unbeaten run in the AFC Champions League Elite campaign intact as the Wolves now have three draws and two wins.
Al Hilal had won all their matches in Asia so far and it took three close penalty calls, all chalked off by VAR for them to drop points for the first time.
However, Al Sadd were kept under pressure by the Saudi side for the most part. After all, this was a side that was motivated to get back to winning ways after losing their first league game in more than 550 days last Saturday, away at Al Khaleej.
And it showed in the pitch, as the Blue Waves started on the front foot right from the first minute.
Ali Albulayhi found the target just 10 minutes into the game for the visitors, beating the goalkeeper at the far post off of his defensive compatriot Mohamed Kano’s corner.
Aleksandar Mitrovic had shot the first chance of the game wide just three minutes before, one that had come off Al Hilal’s aggressive start.
The Serbian striker failed to hit the target yet again in the 15th minute, failing to direct Salem Al-Dawsari’s corner off his head.
Al Hilal’s high-tempo start had come on the back of an illustrious Joao Cancelo, who made surging runs ahead to trouble both Cristo Gonzalez and Mohammed Waad on his side.
Trying to adapt to the situation, Al Sadd then tried to exploit the gap left behind by Cancelo’s advanced movement, tilting their attack towards the left wing.
Akram Afif, the side’s main threat in front of goal, joined the midfield to supply balls on the left to the Waad-Cristo duo.
That overwhelmed the Al Hilal midfield momentarily and Nasser Al-Dawsari got booked in a desperate attempt to stop Al Sadd’s midfielder Mohammed Camara.
Yet it was Cancelo again who had a defining moment, this time with his defensive duties.
The former Barcelona full-back beat Afif on a lofted through ball, which would have put the two-time Asian player of the year in a one-versus-one situation against goalkeeper Yassine Bounou.
In a rather bleak display caused due to the sides cancelling each other’s strengths out, the closest chance fell to Al Sadd’s Yusuf Abdurisag in the second minute of added time.
The winger failed to hit the target, despite being afforded the space to shoot after collecting opposition defender Hassan Al-Tambakti’s missed pass from outside the box.
It was after the half that action warmed up with Afif cutting in from the right, whose first shot of the night was pushed outside by Bounou in the 54th minute to deny a stunning strike from outside of the box.
Mitrovic then had his moment at the other end again, yet was denied by the crossbar a minute after the hour mark – a miss they would come to regret soon.
To build on to a confident start to the second half, Al Sadd’s coach Sanchez then decided on a triple substitution, bringing in playmaker Giovani, new signing Adam Ounas, and eventual scorer Otavio.
The warning bells immediately went off for Al Hilal as Ounas met Afif’s cross with a desperate stretch, only to guide it straight in Bounou’s hands.
Otavio finally beat the Moroccan keeper on the near post just a minute after Ounas’ effort, sending the 11,327 fans into pandemonium.
The goal then opened the game up, with both sides pushing for a winner to join Al Ahli and Al Nassr in booking a place in the round of 16 from the West Region.
Despite getting at the end of chances yet again, Al Hilal then failed to bury a couple of chances, one of them falling to goalscorer Bulayhi. Yet, the lighting did not strike twice as the centre-back failed to place the header on target with just 11 minutes of playing time left.
However, Al Hilal were not going down without a fight. The away fans rang ear-piercing whistles as Al Hilal were denied three penalties in the 10 added minutes, coming on the back of their increased attacking intensity.
The game ended almost in a similar manner as the start: Mitrovic, who had a night to forget, hit the target with the last kick of the game, but Al Sadd keeper Meshaal Barsham caught it off the line to maintain a point for the home side.
