Bruno Corrrea was on course to be Sepahan’s match winner for a second consecutive match in Group C after following up his late winner against Al Nasr of the United Arab Emirates two weeks ago with the opening goal 10 minutes before the break at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium.
But after Al Ahli dominated for the majority of the second half, second-half substitute Simoes made no mistake from the penalty spot as Al Ahli picked up their first point of the campaign after losing 1-0 to Qatar champions Lekhwiya two weeks ago.
After netting the winner with six minutes remaining against Al Nasr, Corrrea beat Al Ahli goalkeeper Abdullah Al Muaiouf after 35 minutes after Moharram Navidkia had capitalised on a defensive error to pick out the Brazilian inside the penalty area.
Al Ahli dominated the second half but failed to test Sepahan goalkeeper Rahman Ahmadi, while the visitors were restricted to a series of unsuccessful counterattacks.
But with Sepahan closing in on a second win of the campaign, Hassan Jafari upended Simoes inside the area and the Brazilian beat Ahmadi from the resulting penalty.