Al-Hilal, the last Saudi club remaining in the Asian Champions League, was eliminated in the semi-finals by Al-Ain this Tuesday.
After their 4-2 defeat away in the first leg, the team based in Riyadh partially turned the tables at home by securing a 2-1 victory. However, this win wasn’t enough to qualify. With the Moroccan Yassine Bounou sacrificed in the first leg among the foreign players, and without the Senegalese Kalidou Koulibaly, left out for the return leg, Jorge Jesus’ men got off to a good start by converting a penalty through Ruben Neves (4th minute).
Rahimi in the final!
However, Al-Ain quickly equalized thanks to Erik (12th minute). The ever-present Al-Dawsari restored Al-Ain’s lead shortly after the halftime break (51st minute), but the 2022 winners then squandered several goal-scoring opportunities due to a lack of efficiency. After a recovery by the Moroccan Soufiane Rahimi, the top scorer of this Asian Champions League (11 goals) and author of a hat-trick in the first leg, Palacios even thought he had equalized in the dying moments, but his goal was disallowed after VAR review.
A decision that didn’t change anything for Al-Ain from the Emirates, who qualify for the final where they will face the winner of the match between Ulsan and Yokohama F. Marinos.
