Al-Hilal will host Al Ittihad in the first leg of their AFC Champions League quarter-final. The current Saudi Pro League leaders defeated Sepahan 6-2 on aggregate in the round of 16. The reigning Pro League winners overcame a 2-1 deficit to defeat Navbahor 2-1 in the second leg.
Preview (Al-Hilal vs. Al Ittihad)
Jorge Jesus’ club has dominated opponents at home. They have performed admirably in this event as well, winning both of their knockout games 3-1. Al Za’eem has won 27 straight games, including King Cup of Champions matchups, friendlies, local matches, and Champions League games. They aim to win both the Saudi top flight and the Champions League in the same season for the first time since 2020–21. They have amassed a healthy nine-point lead at the top of the table after 22 domestic matches. Al-Hilal has gone past this round in each of their last six Champions League quarterfinal appearances. They haven’t been eliminated from the last eight since 2011–12 (5-0 on aggregate)
The only teams left in this tournament without a Champions League loss this year are Al-Hilal and their bitter rivals Al-Nassr, with Al-Za’eem emerging victorious in 16 straight matches across all competitions as the home team. They defeated Al Ittihad 3-1 last Friday in their most recent league match. They are undefeated in seven straight games against them across all competitions. Al Ittihad was behind early in their second leg match against Navbahor due to some unfortunate circumstances resulting from an own goal; nevertheless, in the latter parts of that match, they were fortunate enough to overcome that deficit thanks to another own goal.
They have not advanced past the last eight of this competition since 2011–12. Tuesday will mark their first trip to the quarterfinals since the 2018–19 season. This season, Marcelo Gallardo’s team’s lone loss at this event happened away from home during the group round (2-0 against Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya).
Team News
Since the Brazilian is still healing from a cruciate ligament damage he sustained in October, Neymar is still unavailable for Al-Hilal. From the first to the second leg of their draw with Sepahan, we saw one new player in their starting lineup. Michael entered the game on home soil instead of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. Aleksandar Mitrovic, has scored in each of their previous 16 games. He is tied for second place in the competition with seven goals, one less than Crystalzan. Ruben Neves and Salem Al-Dawsari both scored in their 3-1 victory in leg two.
Luiz Felipe is recuperating from a muscle tear, while Ahmed Bamsaud, Ahmed Sharahili, and Abdullah Al-Jadaani are all suffering from cruciate ligament tears for Al Ittihad. Three players were added to their starting lineup between legs one and two of their tie with Navbahor: Saad Al Mousa, Ahmed Al-Ghamdi, and Karim Benzema took the places of Madallah Al-Olayan, Marwan Al-Sahafi, and Ronaldinho. In their rematch with Navbahor, they fell after 25 minutes due to an own goal by Benzema. However, Abdulrazak Hamdallah tied the score in injury time during the first half, and they went ahead in the second half because to an own goal by Toma Tabatadze.
Al-Hilal 2-0 Al Ittihad
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