Al-Ahli is the sole remaining Saudi Arabian team in the last four of the AFC Champions League Elite and will take on Vissel Kobe of Japan on Monday while Japan’s Machida Zelvia meets Shabab Al-Ahli of the United Arab Emirates with a place in the final at stake.
Al-Ahli, which lifted the trophy for the first time last May, struggled to a 2-1 win over Malaysia’s Johor Darul Tazim on Friday in Jeddah, the Saudi Arabian city that is hosting the knockout stage of the tournament.
Ali Majrashi scored an own goal after 19 minutes to put Johor ahead and the Al-Ahli defender was red carded soon after. Just before the break, former Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie leveled.
Nine minutes after the restart, Brazilian winger Galeno scored the winning goal.
“We made it to the next round despite a tight and tough match,” Al-Ahli coach Matias Jaissle said. “Never easy after a red card but the players showed great mentality and discipline with the fans giving us the extra boost.”
Ahli meets Kobe after the Japanese team defeated Qatar’s Al-Sadd in a penalty shootout after a 3-3 draw.
“I think in this game we deserved to win, but this is football and sometimes you lose when you deserve to win,” Al-Sadd coach Roberto Mancini said. “When I took the team we were out of the AFC Champions League Elite, we were at the bottom of the table. We qualified for the Finals, for this phase, but I can say nothing about the players. I was very proud of them.”
Machida Zelvia, in its first tournament, defeated two-time winner and defending Saudi Pro League champion Al-Ittihad 1-0.
Australian striker Tete Yengi scored the only goal of the game in the 31st minute.
“We were aware we weren’t going to have many chances, so we made the most of our chances and kept a clean sheet,” Machida coach Go Kuroda said. “This is our game and I’m very proud of the team. In football there is a winner and a loser. This time we won but sometimes we lose as well. I think we were lucky today.”
Machida will take on Shabab Al-Ahli after the Dubai club defeated Buriram United of Thailand 3-2 on Saturday.
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