Al Hilal launched its start in the AFC Champions League Elite Championship, with a valuable victory over its guest, Al Gharafa, Qatar, 2-1, at the “Kingdom Arena” stadium in the capital, Riyadh.
Ruben Neves scored a goal and played an assist, leading Al Hilal Saudi Arabia to victory in a match in which the two teams played most of it with ten players. After a little more than half an hour had passed, the referee issued a red card to Crescencio Summerville, the Al Hilal player, and Ismail bin Nasser, the Al Gharafa player, due to violent behavior.
In the third minute of stoppage time for the first half, Neves opened the scoring from a penalty kick won by Simon Bouabry.
Al Hilal succeeded in doubling its lead in the 73rd minute when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic headed a header from close range, taking advantage of a cross pass from Neves.
Al Gharafa reduced the gap in stoppage time through Aladdin Hassan.
In the second round of the league stage, Al-Gharafa will host its Iranian rival, Esteghlal, on the 12th of next month, while Al-Hilal will visit Qatar’s Al-Sadd one day later.
Al-Taawoun begins its journey in the AFC Champions League 2 on Wednesday, when it is a guest of Al-Nahda of Oman at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex, in a confrontation in which the Saudi team looks to open a new page after a difficult local start that toppled its Serbian coach Zarko Lazetic, while the hosts enter the match with an unbeaten record in the Omani League.
The confrontation comes within the third group competitions, which includes, in addition to Al-Taawoun and Al-Nahda, both Al-Rayyan of Qatar and Al-Faisaly of Jordan, in a group during which the Saudi team is looking forward to booking one of the two qualification tickets and going far in a tournament that carries with it special memories.
Al-Taawoun returns to the AFC Champions League 2 after it was close to reaching the final of the tournament in its previous participation, when it reached the semi-finals before its journey stopped against Al-Sharjah, UAE. He won the first leg with a goal without a response, before losing the second leg by two and leaving the competition.
The tournament also carries close Saudi memories, after Al-Nasr reached the final of the last edition and was one of the most prominent candidates to embrace the title, before losing the final match to Japan’s Gamba Osaka at the “All Park” stadium in the capital, Riyadh.
But Al-Taawoun begins its continental participation this time in completely different circumstances from the image it used to appear in, as it is experiencing one of its most difficult local beginnings, after seven rounds in the Saudi Professional League passed without achieving any victory.
The team collected only 3 points from three draws compared to four losses, to occupy the penultimate place, in a start during which it moved away from its usual levels and identity that made it over the past seasons one of the teams capable of competing with the adults.
The 6-0 loss to Al Hilal in the seventh round marked the end of Serbian Zarko Lazetic's career, as the club management announced his dismissal after a series of negative results, and temporarily assigned the task to Syrian Jihad Al Hussein.
Jihad Al-Hussein, who was coaching the U-21 team, begins his mission in a sensitive situation, as facing Al-Nahda will be his first test, and he hopes to lead the team to a victory that will restore some of the lost confidence and give it a morale boost before entering the break.
The continental championship appears to be an opportunity for cooperation in order to temporarily move away from the pressures of the league and start a different stage, especially since an away victory in the opening round will be important in the group’s calculations, in addition to its moral impact on a team searching for its first victory this season.
Al-Taawoun has a number of names capable of making a difference, led by Moroccan Abderrazak Hamdallah, whom the team relies on offensively, along with Ivorian Parfait Giagon, Marine Petkov, captain Achraf El Mahdioui, and defender Oscar Duarte, while Brazilian Milson Santos is present in goalkeeping.
The team's options also include a number of local names, led by Muhammad Al-Kuwaikbi, Aoun Al-Saluli, Bassam Al-Huraiji, and Ibrahim Mahnashi, who comes from Al-Qadisiyah, in addition to defender Nasser Halil, the team's latest signing after joining from Al-Najma.
On the other hand, Al-Nahda enters the confrontation in more stable conditions, after recording a good start in the Omani League and maintaining its record without loss during its first three matches.
Al-Nahda has 7 points from two victories and a draw, which is a start that gives the team a great deal of confidence before receiving cooperation and trying to invest the ground staff and the public to achieve a successful continental start.
The team is led by British coach Scott Caldrod, who relies on a mixture of experienced elements and Omani international names, led by veteran goalkeeper Fayez Al-Rashidi, who has extensive experience in continental participations, along with Hareb Al-Saadi, Muhammad Al-Ghafri, Ghanem Al-Habashi and Ahmed Al-Kaabi.
The list of foreign professionals in Al-Nahda includes Devana Anderson, Albanian playmaker Fallon Ahmadi, and Lebanese Karim Darwish, in addition to Dutch striker Lars Veldwijk, which gives the team multiple options for a guest looking to regain its balance.
Confrontation carries importance beyond the three-point calculations for cooperation. The team enters it looking for a new beginning under temporary technical leadership, and a first victory that ends a series that extended seven local matches without a win, while Al-Nahda is looking to transfer its good local start to the continental championship and capitalize on its competitor’s wavering condition.
Al-Qadisiyah Saudi Arabia succeeded in passing the “continental” test of beginnings, by achieving a deserved victory over Al-Wasl of the Emirates by two goals to one, after going through difficulties and pressure from the successive matches at the local level, by playing 8 matches in less than a month before that confrontation in the new edition of the AFC Champions League for the elite.
There was an atmosphere of concern that the physical factor would have a negative role in the start of the continental campaign, especially since Irish coach Brendan Rodgers spoke openly about the amount of physical pressure and the succession of matches in harsh weather. The temperature and humidity are very high in the eastern region during this period of the year.
The coach had considered that physical pressure played a role in what happened in the Al-Ettifaq match in the Al-Sharqiya derby, which resulted in the loss of a possible win, especially since Al-Qadisiyah faced Al-Ahly only 3 days before the Al-Sharqiya derby.
Al-Qadisiyah’s victory is considered important in terms of points in the AFC Champions League, and it may be halfway to qualifying for the knockout rounds based on data obtained in the past two editions. Teams with one win and one draw qualified and advanced to the final rounds of this tournament.
This victory is also very important from a psychological and moral aspect, considering that there are players who put pressure on themselves to participate against Al-Wasl, led by the Mexican player Julian Quiñones, who insisted on participating and opened the goals for the team in this historic participation, as is the custom of this star, who has recorded amazing numbers since his arrival to Al-Qadisiyah, and his brilliance extended even with his country’s national team in the World Cup. He scored the opening goal in the last edition.
Quinones left the field and appeared to be affected by his injury, and this is what the coach pointed out after the end of the match, specifically in the press conference, where he praised what his team’s players had done and thanked and appreciated them, pointing out that his players are not “machines” but rather they are human beings who need rest. This is what made him use 5 names of local players in the Al-Wasl match, considering that the rest time is an opportunity to catch a breath and a space to stay with the family.
For his part, Quinones reassured his club's supporters about the injury, hoping it would be simple.
Quinones said in the press conference about this victory: “We achieved an important victory in our first Asian appearance. This was important because we worked to get here in the elite AFC Champions League. Today we sought victory and achieved it. We went through difficulties and pressures, as the coach mentioned in the matches, and the most important thing is that we achieved what we wanted.”
During the 9 matches that the team has played so far, including 7 in the Saudi Professional League Championship, one in the King’s Cup Championship, and another continental one, it won 7 of them (5 in the League Championship), while it tied once and lost the same, and maintained its career in the King’s Cup Championship, which is held in a knockout system.
In turn, the Dutch player Tijjani Reynders, Al-Qadisiyah player, expressed his happiness with the victory at the beginning of his team’s journey in the AFC Champions League for the Elite, pointing out the difficulty of the past period in light of the pressure of the matches and the high temperatures.
Reynders said in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat: Yes, I am happy with the result. It was a difficult period with so many matches and in such hot weather, but I think we performed well, and it is a very good start for us in the AFC Champions League.
Reynders sent a message to the fans of Al-Qadisiyah, asking them to continue supporting and supporting them, and that their support reaches them as players on the field.
It remains to be noted that Al-Qadisiyah is competing for 4 championships this season, which is a historical precedent for this team. It competes in the Saudi League, Cup, Super Cup, and the AFC Champions League for the elite.
