April 25 – The revamped Asian Champions League Elite has reached the quarter final stage with Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal SFC kicking off against South Korea’s Gwangju FC tonight in the first of the single leg ties at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah.
The competition is now centralised in Saudi Arabia for its final week with Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, imperious throughout the competition to date, in action against Japan’s Yokohama F. Marinos on Saturday in the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium.
Saudi Arabia’s third team through to the quarter finals, Al Alhi, also play Saturday in the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium against Thailand’s Buriram United. The final quarter final will see Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale face Qatar’s Al Sadd.
Al Hilal are seeking a record-extending fifth AFC club championship title while Gwangju are making their AFC competition debut.
Although suffering a poor run of form in the Saudi Pro League, Al Hilal, moved into the quarter-finals with a comfortable 4-1 aggregate win against Uzbekistan’s Pakhtakor. Lee Jung-hyo’s Gwangju overturned a 2-0 defeat in the first leg against Vissel Kobe to advance 3-2 on aggregate.
“Gwangju have great potential with three talented Brazilian players and a highly competitive squad. To win, we need to perform at the highest level,” said Al Hilal coach Jorge Jesus.
In contrast Al Hilal rely on a strong cohort of domestic players. “We’ve analysed Al Hilal thoroughly. We know we need to pay special attention to their Saudi players, particularly Salem Al Dawsari, Ali Al Bulaihi and Mohamed Kanno. They are the core of the team,” said Jung-hyo.
“I respect Al Hilal’s long history in this competition, they’ve reached the final nine times and won it four times. That speaks volumes about their pedigree.”
Inevitably all eyes will be on the charismatic Ronaldo who still knows how to turn it on when it comes to the biggest stages.
Five wins and two draws qualified them into the Round of 16, where after settling for a goalless draw in the first leg against Iran’s Esteghlal FC, turned on the power in the return fixture to cruise to a 3-0 win.
Ronaldo is the tip of their spear with seven goals.
Al Nassr’s best performances in AFC Champions League competition has been two semi-final finishes will fancy their title chances, but they are riding high, at home and look to be current favourites for the title of Ronaldo and Jhon Dhuran maintain form.
The semi-finals will be played next Tuesday and Wednesday with the final on Friday May 2.
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