Al Ahli Saudi needed another thrilling fight back, but they remain on course to defend their AFC Champions League Elite title on soil.
In front of 44,716 supporters in Jeddah – of which only around 50 were backing the opposition – the holders claimed a 2-1 win against Japan’s Vissel Kobe.
It means they are now a game away from defending the title they won at the same stadium 12 months ago.
Saturday’s final will pit them against the winner of Tuesday’s second semi-final, between the UAE’s Shabab Al Ahli and another Japanese side in Machida Zelvia.
The Saudi Pro League side, bayed on by remarkable home support, will be strong favourites. And yet, for much of their game against Vissel, it seemed like their dream of successive titles was destined to end.
For the first quarter of the game, the Saudi Arabian team looked spooked by Vissel’s pressing.
Even though they were attacking the goal in front of the deafening home support, the Japanese side started by far the brighter.
Chances were few, but Ahli themselves pinned back, struggling to get the ball out from their backline with any sort of precision.
It took a rampaging run from Zakaria Al Hawsawi, their left back, to give them some belief. His determined break up the left flank led to a chance for Franck Kessie to shoot from distance.
The former Barcelona midfielder’s shot was blocked by Daiya Maekawa, Vissel’s goalkeeper, who also managed to deal with the follow up effort from Riyad Mahrez.
It was brief respite, and Vissel took a deserved lead just after the half hour. Even defending a set-piece, Ahli looked lost.
As a free-kick was sent in from the right, Yuya Osako sauntered through unchallenged and headed down for Yoshinori Muto to tap in the opener.
Although they were second best for almost all of the first phase, Ahli could so easily have gone into the break level.
As the clock ticked past 45 minutes, they were awarded a free kick on the edge of Vissel’s box. It found Rayan Hamed, the right-back, who headed against the post.
The ball was not cleared and Ahli worked an opening on the other side of the box which ended with Ivan Toney improvising a back-heeled shot that went just wide.
Ahli has been in a far worse situation in their quarter-final, against Johor Darul Ta’zim, at the same venue a few nights earlier.
Back then, they had been a goal and a player down to their opposition before fighting back. And yet this felt like a far greater challenge; Vissel were a far superior side to Johor.
Ahli had clearly found a flaw in the Vissel armory, though. Just as they had at the end of the first half, when Hamed stole in unmarked at the far post at a free-kick, they did exactly the same at the start of the second.
This time, the unmarked player was Roger Ibanez, one of Ahli’s best headers of the ball, yet he sent the chance wide.
Not long after, they had the ball in the goal after Toney powered through the middle and shot into Vissel’s net but it was chalked off for offside.
Even though they were starting to fashion the better chances, their Japanese opposition still posed a big threat at the other end.
After a Kessie mistake on the edge of the box, Daiju Sasaki could have doubled Vissel’s lead, but he crashed his shot against the bar.
Ahli manager Matthias Jaissle was then booked as his players, staff, and thousands of fans beyond, protested for a penalty for handball.
The German coach was far from the worst offender, but carried the can for everyone else’s antics. And the referee and TV official waved away their protests anyway.
It felt like it was going to take something special for Ahli to regain parity, and it just got that.
Galeno had scored a wonder-strike to win their quarter-final. His effort this time was even better. From 25-yards out, he arrowed the ball into the top corner.
Suddenly, from being full of nerves, Ahli were rampant. They poured forward, and Galeno played a role in the second, too.
His cross from the left was flapped at by Maekawa and Toney cleverly turned the ball into the goal – through a ruck of bodies – from an acute angle.
It was now Vissel who were clinging on. They looked out for the count when Mahrez fired in Ahli’s third. Again, it was chalked off for offside.
Ahli did not need the extra buffer. They closed out the win comfortably anyway.
