Cristiano Ronaldo’s dreams of adding an AFC Champions League crown to the five UEFA Champions League titles he won with Manchester United (2008) and Real Madrid (2014, 2016-18) went up in smoke as Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale caused a massive upset in the semi final by beating Al-Nassr 3-2. The Japanese side had just 25 per cent possession but were clinical with their chances, while Ronaldo alone wasted three excellent chances in added-on time at the end of the game.
With three Saudi teams having made it to the last four, you would have got short odds on an all-Saudi final. Instead, Al-Ahli, currently fourth in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) but playing in front of their home crowd at King Abdullah Sports City, will play Kawasaki – who have won just four of their 12 games in Japan’s J1 League this season – in the final on Saturday.
Kawasaki struck as early as the 10th minute, with Tatsuya Ito’s wonderfully controlled volley after a Marcinho cross had been deflected into his pass. Sadio Mane, once of Liverpool and Bayern Munich, equalised on 28th minutes, cutting in from the left and letting fly with a shot that took a slight deflection past Louis Yamaguchi.
But Ito’s drive and perseverance, chasing a ball into the Al-Nassr area, helped put the Japanese back in front. After a couple of ricochets, the ball fell kindly to Yuto Ozeki, who made no mistake.
After the break, Al-Nassr piled on the pressure. Apart from Ronaldo and Mane, they also had Jhon Duran, formerly of Aston Villa, and Marcelo Brozevic, who spent eight years with Inter Milan before moving to the desert kingdom. But the Riyadh-based side fashioned few clearcut chances as Kawasaki defended stoutly.
In the 79th minute, the rank outsiders looked to have put the game to bed. A surging run along the goalline from Erison set up Akihiro Ienaga, the 38-year-old veteran, to finish from close range. Another deflected strike, this time from Ayman Yahya gave the yellow hordes hope, but in injury time, Ronaldo had a free kick and a long-range piledriver saved by Yamaguchi before failing to get a good connection from inside the six-yard box. And that was that, with Stefano Pioli, Al-Nassr’s under-fire coach, walking straight into the dressing room at the final whistle.
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