Al Hilal manager Ramoz Diaz said he was not satisfied with his side’s performance against Shabab Al Ahli despite the holders booking their spot in the Asian Champions League quarter-finals.
The Saudi Arabia side, competing for the first time since finishing runner-up to Real Madrid at this month's Fifa Club World Cup, triumphed 3-1 in the last-16 encounter Al Janoub Stadium in Doha.
Goals from Odion Ighalo, Jang Hyun-soo and Luciano Vietto put Hilal 3-0 up on the night against the UAE league leaders, with Shabab Al Ahli forward Omar Khribin reducing the deficit in the 86th minute.
However, Shabab Al Ahli should have opened the scoring early on but for Yahya Al Ghassani’s close-range miss, while Hilal goalkeeper Abdullah Al Mayouf made crucial saves from both Al Ghassani and Khribin. The Syrian, crowned 2017 Asian footballer of the year while playing for Hilal, struck the woodwork late on also.
Nevertheless, Hilal go into Tuesday’s quarter-final draw alongside local rivals Al Shabab, Iran’s Foolad and Qatari club Al Duhail. Diaz's side are seeking to win a third Champions League in four years.
“We are Al Hilal and it is our duty to play with quality,” the Argentine manager said. “We played against a defensive team and were lucky to score an early goal.
“However, the goal led to a loss in concentration. I am happy with the result, but not with the overall performance.
“We have just come back from Morocco [Club World Cup], where there was a very high level of competition and I can say that we have relaxed a little bit. We made some mistakes defensively, but we will work on rectifying this ahead of the quarters.”
The west zone quarter-finals take place on Thursday, with the semi-final three days later – all in Qatar. The winner will go on to face Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds in the final, which takes place over two legs, on April 29 and May 6. Urawa booked their place in the final by winning the east zone last year.
Shabab Al Ahli manager Leonardo Jardim, who led Hilal to the 2021 Champions League title, said of Monday’s defeat: “Al Hilal were confident from the start and that led to them scoring the early goal.
“We had several chances to score after Al Hilal took the lead, but failed to put them away. In the second half, we had nothing to lose and were more offensive, but got hit by a second goal.
“That made it very difficult for us, especially against a side like Al Hilal who have quality players across the pitch.”
