Asian Champions League final: tournament supremos Al Hilal find groove at the right time

Saudi Arabian side, reigning champions and record winners, out to prove their credentials once more when they host Urawa Red Diamonds in first leg in Riyadh

Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal celebrate after beating South Korea's Pohang Steelers in the Asian Champions League final at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh on November 23, 2021. AP

After the mid-to-late-season stutter, Al Hilal seem to have found their footing exactly when needed.

Last week, they defeated Riyadh rivals in the derby, raising their game enough to damage Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League title challenge despite their own slipping already from view.

In all likelihood, the current Saudi champions, stuck in fourth with only five matches remaining, won’t be holding on to their domestic crown beyond this season.

Yet, on Sunday, Hilal moved to within a match of another local trophy. Pitted against lead leaders Al Ittihad in the semi-final of the King’s Cup, they survived a tense and taught encounter at the hostile King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah to emerge victorious.

The 1-0 triumph in extra-time, secured not by one of their own but an unfortunate touch from Ittihad captain Ahmed Hegazi, kept alive hopes of concluding a crammed campaign with a double.

In the space of six days, Hilal cast behind them the inconsistency in the league, the poor return of five wins from 10 matches, the derby defeat – comprehensive and crushing – to Al Shabab, the home draw to a modest Al Tai and the shock loss to bottom side Al Batin.

Form has been rekindled; fitness, and thus availability, of key players restored. And right on time, too.

It provides a perfect platform for Hilal’s latest shot at yet more continental glory. On Saturday, the Asian Champions League’s most successful club contest the first leg of its 2022 final, hosting Urawa Red Diamonds in Riyadh before the return match in Japan next week.

Irrespective of their domestic league standings, competing in the continent’s marquee club fixture sits snugly in Hilal’s wheelhouse.

The Saudi side embark on their fifth Champions League final in nine years, winning their three most recent. Victory in the last edition, secured via a 2-0 win against South Korea’s Pohang Steelers, lifted Hilal to an unprecedented fourth title.

However, they still go into this year's showpiece – the 2022 edition has stretched across a full 12 months and more – somewhat worse off than in recent iterations.

The reasons for that are easily identifiable: Hilal have endured an arduous 2023, their schedule clogged by a historic run to the Fifa Club World Cup final in Morocco in February.

From there, they jumped straight into the Champions League knockouts in Qatar, the last-16 to semi-finals squeezed into a seven-day period as the competition shifted, finally, from revisions rendered by the pandemic.

The 2022 World Cup has had its impact, also. Hilal, whose players made up almost half the Saudi Arabia squad in Qatar, lost influential players to injury both during and after the tournament: full-back Yasser Al Shahrani, midfield linchpin and captain Salman Al Faraj, electric winger Salem Al Dawsari. Only now, has the trio returned to the line-up.

No doubt, Hilal will be buoyed by not only their players' expertise, but their experience; they will each appear in their fifth Champions League final. Two-time winners Urawa, meanwhile, have only three players in their squad who have competed in one.

Facing their eighth match this month, and unable to augment their side in the winter because of a still-active transfer embargo, Hilal's selection uptick has been welcome indeed.

Under previous conditions, the four-front challenge – Club World Cup, Saudi Pro League, King’s Cup, Champions League – was always going to prove too much. But focus has now narrowed, a third continental title in four years the priority.

Urawa offer familiar opponents – this is the third final between the pair in six years, Urawa winning in 2017, Hilal in 2019 – but they are not quite the same either.

Maciej Skorza, the Polish tactician, was announced as manager in November ahead of the 2023 J-League season and, after a difficult start in which he lost his opening two games in charge, has steadied the ship.

Urawa are unbeaten in 11 matches, even if 13 goals in nine league matches shows more work is required.

Perhaps crucially, Skorza has experience of Saudi football gleaned from the 2012/13 season as Effifaq manager. He will know well what awaits his current team on Saturday at the imposing King Fahd International Stadium. A sell-out 60,000 crowd is expected.

Undeniably, Hilal are more than used to high-stakes stages. Ramon Diaz’s men tend to thrive in the big games, that winners’ mentality cultivated at the region's – and quite conceivably Asia’s – pre-eminent club.

Appearance in the Champions League final is expected, the pressure it brings embraced. Those notable wins against Nassr and Ittihad this past week have lifted the mood, making preparation feel ideal. It suggests Hilal, Champions League supremos, enter Saturday in rude health once more.