Al-Ahli beat Al-Qadsiah 5-1 in Hong Kong to secure a place in the Saudi Super Cup final against Al-Nassr. Al-Qadsiah opened the scoring through Gaston Alvaraz after eight minutes, but Franck Kessie equalized four minutes later and later added a second to finish the first half strongly. Ivan Toney scored from the penalty spot, Enzo Millot marked his debut with a headed goal, Al-Qadsiah were reduced to 10 men after a straight red card, and an own-goal from Nacho Fernandez completed the rout. Al-Ahli posted an xG of 3.22 from 14 attempts, led by Kessie's multifaceted performance across goals, passes, duels, and possession wins.
A dominant first-half display did the damage, with Franck Kessie scoring twice while Riyad Mahrez notched two assists to seal a date with Al-Nassr in the final. However, Al-Ahli had to come from behind to seal their progression after Gaston Alvaraz headed past Edouard Mendy with just eight minutes on the clock. But Kessie restored parity just four minutes later with Ivan Toney putting his side ahead from the penalty spot just before the half-hour mark after a handball against Nahitan Nandez.
Indeed, they registered an expected goals (xG) total of 3.22 from their 14 attempts, nine of which were on target, compared to Al-Qadisah's 0.43 from their five shots. But they were led by Kessie, who, along with his two goals, completed the third-most passes (57) and won the third-most duels (four) for his team, while he also won possession back more than any other player on the pitch (nine).
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