Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal advanced to the AFC Champions League semifinals on Tuesday with 28 straight wins, setting a world record for consecutive wins. The 2-0 victory over fellow Saudis Al-Ittihad broke the top-flight record of 27 consecutive wins set by the New Saints of Wales in 2016. Al-Hilal from Riyadh, already the most successful team in the AFC’s history with four Champions League titles, won 4-0 on aggregate in Jeddah.
Hilal, last year’s runners-up, advanced in their quarter-final second leg tie at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium with second-half goals from Yasser Al Shahrani and Brazilian Malcom victory.
Al-Hilal will face Emirates side Al Ain in next month’s semi-finals, following the 2003 champions’ penalty shootout victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nasr on Monday.
Al-Ittihad’s miserable night was summed up in the final minute of normal time when striker Abdelrazak Hamdallah was fined for grabbing Al-Hilal defender Ali Al-Blayhi by the throat. Second yellow card.
The confrontation sparked multiple clashes between players from both sides.
The 2004 and 2005 Champions League winners Etihad were missing a number of key players.
2022 Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema, signed from Real Madrid last summer, is again out injured, while 2018 World Cup winner N’Golo Kante is suspended after being sent off in the first leg.
However, for much of this match, the biggest threat was the current Saudi Professional League champions.
In the 17th minute, Romarinho shot with his left foot from the edge of Hilal’s penalty area. The ball hit the post and Al-Ittihad almost opened the scoring.
Hilal goalkeeper Mohamed Al Owais was called on twice at the start of the second half. First, the Saudi Arabia international parried Marwan Al-Sahafi’s low shot on the counterattack, before he jumped to the right and deftly parried Ahmed Al Ghamdi’s fierce shot.
However, in the 61st minute, Hilal sealed their place in the semi-finals.
Salem Al Dawsari plays for Serbian international Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and feeds Al Shahrani Al Shahrani fired the ball low past Al Ittihad goalkeeper Abdullah Al Mayouf.
Malcom then equalized in stoppage time, latching onto Aleksandar Mitrovic’s through ball to cap a night to remember for the Riyadh giants.
Al-Hilal lead the Saudi Professional League by 12 points, having won their last nine Champions League games. The last time they lifted the trophy was in 2021.
Ulsan Edge Jeonbuk
Earlier on Tuesday, South Korea’s Ulsan beat Jeonbuk Motors 1-0 in the second round to advance to the semi-finals with a 2-1 aggregate victory over their compatriots.
The result also brings Ulsan one step closer to qualifying for next year’s expanded Club World Cup, which will be played among 32 teams from the United States.
Ulsan will face Japan’s Yokohama Marinos or China’s Shandong Taishan next month for a spot in the Champions League final.
Seol Young-woo’s volley in first-half stoppage time was enough to resolve the tension between the two teams in the past seven K-League title battles.
Yokohama and Shandong will play in Japan on Wednesday, with Harry Kewell’s Yokohama leading 2-1 after the first leg.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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