Urawa Reds, the ‘famous family’ of the Japanese professional soccer J-League, won the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Champions League (ACL) championship for the third time in their career by beating Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia), the strongest club in Asia.
Urawa defeated Al-Hilal 1-0 in the second leg of the 2022 ACL Finals held at Saitama Stadium in Japan on the 6th.
Urawa, who drew 1-1 in the first leg of the away match on the 30th of last month, took a 2-1 overall score and won their 3rd championship trophy.
Urawa, who stood at the top of Asia for the first time in six years, became the joint most winning team in East Asia along with K-League 1 Pohang Steelers.
Looking at the whole of Asia, Al-Hilal holds the record for the most times in total with 4 times, and Pohang and Urawa are tied for second place.
Like the first game, where they had 28% of the ball and only 2 shots on target, Urawa was greatly pushed back in the match today.
The possession rate was only 29% and no effective shots were made.
The total number of shots was also 6-10.
What saved Urawa was an own goal from Al-Hilal midfielder Andre Carrillo.
In the 3rd minute of the second half, in a free kick situation, Marius Höbroten headed a long pass from the back into the gate.
The ball went over the head of center back Jang Hyeon-soo, a former Korean national team player who has been active as a key resource for Al-Hilal for 5 years, and even passed the hand of goalkeeper Abdullah Mayup, who failed to properly catch the landing point.
Then, Carrillo, who hurriedly jumped in to kick the ball, was hit by the foot and sucked into the goal.
Odion Ighalo from Manchester United (England) was in charge of the front striker, boasting a luxurious lineup and taking the lead throughout the game, the vacancy of Salim Dausari was painful for Al-Hilal.먹튀검증
Dausari, Saudi Arabia’s ‘domestic ace’ and the team’s key striker, scored in the first game, but was not able to play in the second game as he received a red card in the 41st minute of the second half for kicking Gen Iwao for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Al-Hilal also met Urawa in the finals of the 2017 season and knelt down on the verge of winning. At that time, the first leg was drawn 1-1, and the second leg was lost 1-0.
Al-Hilal is in 4th place (49 points) in their home league this season. It is 10 points behind first place Al Ittihad (59 points) and 7 points behind second place Al Nasr (56 points), played by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Urawa is in 6th place (17 points) in the J1 League.