On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal broke a global record for straight victories by winning their 28th in a row to advance to the Asian Champions League semifinals.
On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal broke the world record for consecutive victories by reaching the Asian Champions League semi-finals with their 28th win in a row. With a 2-0 win over neighboring Saudi side Al Ittihad, they broke the previous record of 27 consecutive wins by a top-flight team, achieved by Welsh club The New Saints in 2016. Hilal of Riyadh, already the most successful team in AFC Champions League history with four trophies, defeated Jeddah 4-0 on aggregate.
Hilal, last year’s runners-up, won the second leg of the quarter-finals at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium thanks to second-half goals from Yasser Al Shahrani and Brazilian Malcom.
Hilal will face Al Ain of the UAE in the last four next month, following their penalty shootout victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr on Monday.
Ittihad’s wretched night was summed up in the final minute of normal time, when striker Abderrazak Hamdallah received a second booking for grabbing Hilal defender Ali Al Bulaihi by the throat.
The confrontation precipitated a series of fights between the opposing groups of players.
Ittihad, Champions League winners in 2004 and 2005, were missing several key players.
Karim Benzema, the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner signed from Real Madrid last summer, was again sidelined by injury, while 2018 World Cup champion N’Golo Kante was suspended after being sent off in the first game.
However, throughout the majority of the game, the current Saudi Pro League winners posed the greatest threat.
Romarinho’s left-foot effort from the edge of the Hilal penalty area cannoned back off the post in the 17th minute, nearly putting Ittihad ahead.
Mohammed Al Owais, Hilal’s goalkeeper, was called into action twice in the second half. First, the Saudi Arabia international stopped Marwan Al Sahafi’s low counter-attack, then dived to his right to wonderfully palm away Ahmed Al Ghamdi’s furious drive.
However, Hilal secured their place in the semi-finals after 61 minutes.
Salem Al Dawsari found Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, who fed Al Shahrani, who shot low past Ittihad goalkeeper Abdullah Al Mayouf.Malcom then sealed the victory deep into injury time, running onto Aleksandar Mitrovic’s through ball to cap a fantastic night for the Riyadh giants.
Hilal, who leads the Saudi Pro League by 12 points, has won their last nine Champions League games. They won the trophy most recently in 2021.
