Feras Albrikan came off the bench to strike the winner as 10-man Al Ahli Saudi defended their AFC Champions League Elite title in Jeddah.
A year on from becoming champions of Asia for the first time, the Saudi Arabian club went back-to-back with another win over Japanese opposition.
They needed extra time to finally see off plucky Machida Zelvia on a volatile night at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in the Red Sea port city.
The win meant they matched an important record. The only side to retain the continent’s top prize in the Champions League era previously had been their city rivals, Al Ittihad.
The chance to see history made had meant there was a voracious desire for tickets. At one stage on Friday, the online queue for one had exceeded a million.
On the day of the game, fans started arriving at the ground seven hours before kick off, despite the sweltering heat.
As had happened a year earlier, when Ahli beat Kawasaki Frontale, security staff had issues containing the frenzy.
One of the outer gates was rushed, and hundreds of ticketless fans scaled the inner fences to get inside the ground.
They filled the aisles, and when the official attendance of 58,984 was announced, it was undoubtedly an underestimate.
As an exercise in futility, Machida’s fans tried to get themselves heard over the din of the home supporters. It was around 50 against 60,000-plus, but at least with the aid of a couple of drums they managed to get noticed.
It felt as though their team were batting similarly unlikely odds on the pitch.
Machida had not conceded in the knockout stages of this tournament. There was a feeling, though, that if the Japanese side did fall behind, they could wilt against an Ahli side packed with firepower.
It seemed like the Jeddah side had that in mind as they raced out of the blocks, and rained in shots at the start of the game.
Mostly, they were snatched chances, but in 13th minute, Galeno produced a fine save from Kosei Tani, Machida’s goalkeeper. Ivan Toney was just beaten to the follow-up.
Machida did manage to get a foothold in the game, but, in the lead-up to half-time, another good chance fell the way of the Saudi Arabian team.
Somehow the ball stayed out of the net, though, as a Sunday League-style goalmouth scramble ended with Merih Demiral hitting the bar.
Having such a massive crowd roaring them on was obviously a benefit for the host team.
There were downsides, too, though. As the game carried on with Ahli getting no nearer breaking the deadlock, the tension in the stands was obvious.
The team and their coach, Mattias Jaissle, were looking increasingly desperate, appealing vainly for a variety of penalties that were not awarded, and were tenuous at best.
The tension was too much for Zakaria Hawsawi. The left-back had been having a fine game, before getting involved in an altercation with Tete Yengi, the towering Machida striker.
Yengi felt aggrieved at being nudged towards the advertising boards when they were competing for a ball on the touchline.
The 1.98m-tall Australian striker squared up to Hawsawi, and bumped chests. Hawsawi’s response was to direct a brutal headbutt into the face of Yengi. He was rightly shown a straight red card.
It was the second time in these Finals that Ahli had lost a full-back to a red card for serious foul play, after Al Majrashi in their quarter-final.
Hawsawi was clearly badly at fault. But the incident only served to amplify the emotion in the stands.
Water bottles rained down on the players as they were bunched near the touchline. The next time Machida had a corner, the same happened.
Two Machida players – Hotaka Nakamura and Yuki Soma - needed treatment for head injuries after the corner. But only because they ran into each other while trying to execute some elaborate set-piece move.
In stoppage time, Ahli had another player sent off. It was not really material damage: they remained at 10-men on the field, but Mohammed Abdulrahman was shown red on the substitutes bench for overdoing his protest for a penalty.
Almost straight away after, the referee blew for full time. It meant, in 450-minutes of knockout football in this competition, Machida had not conceded a goal.
Their resistance could not last forever, though. In the seventh minute of extra-time, Albrikan, who had come on an hour into the game as a substitute, put Ahli ahead.
Riyad Mahrez crossed from the right, Franck Kessie brought it down at the far post, and Albrikan instinctively stabbed it past Tani.
The single goal was all they needed, as they closed out the title to spark euphoria in the stands.
