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Urawa beat Al Hilal to win Asian Champions League
Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds ended Al-Hilal's dominance in the AFC Champions League title.
Urawa beat Al-Hilal 1-0 in the second leg of the AFC Champions League final.
The Japanese team benefited from its first-leg tie with Al-Hilal in Riyadh, with a goal for each team, to strip the AFC Champions League holders of their title.
And Andre Carrillo, Al Hilal player, scored the match's only goal by mistake, in a match held at Saitama Stadium, Japan.
Urawa Red won the third AFC Champions League title in its history.
Urawa previously won the championship in 2007 and 2017.
Argentine coach Ramon Diaz lost the AFC Champions League final for the second time with Al-Hilal and against the same team (Urawa) after losing the 2017 title.
Golden opportunity
The loss of Al-Hilal gave Al-Ittihad Jeddah and Al-Nasr a golden opportunity in light of their struggle for the title of the current season in the Saudi League.
Al-Hilal was going to participate in the next edition of the Club World Cup, which will be hosted by Saudi Arabia, as the AFC Champions League champion, but its loss will grant the current season’s champion of the Saudi League to participate in the Club World Cup.
Al-Ittihad leads the Saudi League standings table with 59 points, 3 points ahead of Al-Nassr, 5 rounds before the end of the competition.
An own goal by Al Hilal's Andre Carrillo early in the second half gave Urawa their third Asian title in front of almost 55,000 home fans in Saitama, north of Tokyo, following a 1-1 draw in last week's opening leg in Riyadh.
"This is a scene I had only ever dream of before -- I can't believe it," said Urawa captain Hiroki Sakai.
The Japanese side had to withstand fierce first-half pressure from Al Hilal, who were looking to win a record fifth continental title and a third in four seasons.
The decisive moment came when Carrillo turned a header from Urawa's Marius Hoibraten into his own net amid strong wind in the 48th minute, before a determined rear-guard effort from the home side saw out the result and sent the crowd into delirious celebrations.
"They put us under constant pressure right from the start and it was a difficult game," said Urawa striker Shinzo Koroki, who scored his team's goal in the first leg.
"But in the second half we started to push them back and although we didn't have so many chances, we made it count when we did."
The two teams were meeting in the final of Asia's premier club competition for the third time in six years. Urawa won in 2017 but Al Hilal came out on top two years later.
Al Hilal were without injured captain Salman Al Faraj and suspended star winger Salem Al Dawsari, who was sent off late in the first leg for kicking out at Urawa's Ken Iwao.
Al Hilal manager Ramon Diaz made three changes from the first leg, dropping Malian striker Moussa Marega and bringing in experienced Peruvian Carrillo, while Urawa were unchanged.
The Saudi side had an early chance when Odion Ighalo broke clear in the box, only for Urawa defender Alexander Scholz to block his shot on the line.
Al Hilal's Michael also had a scent of goal midway through the first half, but Urawa goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa got down quickly to parry his shot.
Urawa came even closer to opening the scoring against the run of play when Shinzo Koroki, who scored his team's goal in the first leg, hit the bar with a flying volley on the half-hour mark.
Nishikawa again had to be alert to keep out a long-range Carrillo effort with the first half winding to a close, before Urawa's Yoshio Koizumi pulled a shot wide of the post at the other end.
Urawa made the perfect start to the second half when a floated free-kick from around the half-way line found Hoibraten, whose wind-assisted header found its way over the line via Carrillo's boot.
The Japanese side enjoyed far more possession from then on and Atsuki Ito almost added a second goal when he shot just wide of the post with the goalkeeper beaten.
Al Hilal posed far less attacking threat in the second half and Nishikawa was on hand to deny Ighalo when the Saudi side did create a chance late in the game.
The final was taking place more than a year after the Asian Champions League season began, with delays because of the winter World Cup in Qatar and travel complications arising from the Covid pandemic.
Match description
Al-Hilal started the match with early pressure on Urawa's goal, looking to score the first goal.
The fourth minute witnessed a cross ball into the penalty area in favor of Al-Hilal team, to reach Ighalo, who hit a ball from the right of the penalty area, which Alexander Schulz, Urawa defender, removed from the goal line.
Urawa responded by curling a ball from the right side into the Reds penalty area, which was met by Shinzo Koroki, who hit the crossbar.
Al-Hilal player Carrillo hit a wonderful shot from outside the penalty area, but the goalkeeper saved it with great difficulty before the end of the first half.
And with the start of the second half, Urawa scored the only goal of the match through Carrillo, the player of Al-Hilal, by mistake, after he tried to disperse the ball from within the six-yard area, and the ball entered the net in the 49th minute.
Al-Hilal intensified its attempts through Hamad Al-Yami and Michel Delgado in search of scoring the equalizer.
Odion Ighalo missed a golden opportunity to score the equalizing goal in the final moments after a complete break, but the Urawa goalkeeper continued his brilliance and brilliantly cleared the ball in the 89th minute.
Urawa maintained its lead during the remaining minutes of the match to win the third AFC Champions League title in its history.
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