Qatar’s Al Sadd came up with a scintillating show as they rallied to equalize thrice and later upstage Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia 4-2 in penalty shoot-out to move into the quarterfinals of AFC Champions League Elite at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City Stadium in Jeddah on Monday.

It was their captain Akram Afif, who took the final spot kick and made no mistake to ensure victory after Roberto Firmino had found the bottom of the left post on the first kick. Karim Benzema and Saimon Nadelia Bouabre missed for Al Hilal.

Earlier, Al Sadd bounced back from a goal down each time to equalize thrice to force the game into extra time with a 3-3 regular time score.

While Sergej Milinkovic-Savic (29th minute), Salem Al Dawsari (55th minute) and Marcos Leonardo (67th minute) scored for Al Hilal, Claundinho (36th minute), Rafa Mujica (58th minute) and Roberto Firmino (70th minute) fetched the equalizers for Al Sadd.

The victory meant that Al Sadd have set up a last-eight tie with Japan’s Vissel Kobe to be played on Thursday.