Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal, already the most successful side in AFC Champions League history, laid down an intimidating marker that they were ready for an unprecedented fifth title by absolutely steamrolling South Korea’s Gwangju 7-0 in the first quarterfinal at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. They will now play the winners of the tie between the Jeddah-based Al-Ahli and Thailand’s Buriram United, who contest the second quarter-final on Saturday night.
The new AFC Champions League Elite has no home-and-away component to the ties once they reach the quarter-finals. This season, and the next – and perhaps longer – the final stages of the competition will be played in Saudi Arabia. That represents a huge advantage for the three Saudi clubs that have made it this far. Al-Ahli will be playing on home turf, while Al-Hilal and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr are based in Riyadh.
The two cities may be nearly 1000km apart, but from the stands inside the stadium was a sea of Al-Hilal blue, with only a small contingent of Koreans in the stand behind one of the goals. The atmosphere from the outset made it obvious that this was a home game for Al-Hilal in all but name.
It took them less than six minutes to go in front, with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, once of Lazio, glancing in a corner kick. Yassine Bounou then made a fine stop to thwart Jasir Asani, Gwangju’s Albanian winger, and that was as close as we got to a contest. Marcos Leonardo, Al-Hilal’s top scorer this season in the Saudi Pro League (SPL), swept home with his left foot after a fine move in the 25th minute, and when Salem Al-Dawsari finished clinically after being put through in the 33rd minute, it was game over.
The three Saudi teams in this tournament are essentially playing for second place in the SPL
Gwangju’s pain wasn’t. Aleksander Mitrovic, once of Fulham, finished off another flowing team move, and Malcom got the goal his excellent wing play deserved, before Nasser Al-Dawsari’s deflected strike made it 6-0. But there was still time for Mitrovic to nudge the ball to his right, and for Abdullah Al-Hamdan to smash a rocket past the hapless Kim Kyung-min. Even then, Jorge Jesus, the coach, one of the contenders to be next Brazil coach, along with Carlo Ancelotti, was still pacing the sidelines.
The three Saudi teams in this tournament are essentially playing for second place in the SPL. That Al-Ittihad, the champions-elect, aren’t even here is a chilling reminder of the strength in depth of Saudi club football.
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