JEDDAH, April 25 : Ten-man Al-Ahli retained the Asian Champions League Elite title on Saturday as Feras Al-Brikan’s extra-time strike earned the Saudi Pro League side a 1-0 win over Japan’s Machida Zelvia at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Matthias Jaissle’s side became only the second team to retain the trophy in the Asian Champions League era after cross-Jeddah rivals Al-Ittihad in 2005, having seen Zakaria Hawsawi sent off in the 68th minute.
Al-Ahli held out despite being outnumbered to take the match into an additional 30 minutes and substitute Al-Brikan struck from close range after a Riyad Mahrez cross to give his team back-to-back titles.
“It’s amazing. We’re so happy. It was difficult for us again. We like to make it difficult for ourselves. Ten against 11 is nearly impossible, I don’t know how we found the strength and the energy but we’ve done it and we’re happy,” Mahrez said.
“After the red card we stuck together, we fought more, we ran more until we scored.”
The win came in front of the Al-Ahli fans with their Jeddah base hosting the centralised eight-team finals tournament for the second season in a row.
A crowd of almost 59,000 turned out to see Machida keeper Kosei Tani throw himself to his right to keep out Galeno’s 13th-minute effort after Enzo Millot’s pass behind Hotaka Nakamura had split the Machida defence.
Daihachi Okamura’s follow-up clearance prevented Ivan Toney from netting the rebound.
Merih Demiral’s close-range effort clipped the top of the crossbar with three minutes left in the half when Galeno’s in-swinging cross from the right caused concern in the backline, the Turkish defender falling back as he struck the ball.
Machida’s efforts to frustrate the champions paid off with 22 minutes remaining when Hawsawi needlessly reacted in a confrontation with Tete Yengi, headbutting the Australian in full view of referee Ilgiz Tantashev.
With the extra space following Hawsawi’s red card, the Japanese outfit started to take charge.
Edouard Mendy dived to his right to deny Hiroyuki Mae in the 73rd minute and eight minutes later the former Chelsea man saved a low, curling effort that was bound for the bottom corner from Yuki Soma.
Despite being a man down it was Al-Ahli who found their way through a miserly Machida defence, Mahrez swinging a left-footed cross from the right towards the far post, where Franck Kessie laid the ball off for Al-Brikan to score.
