Al Gharafa's Yacine Brahimi (centre) in action during the match against Al Hilal SFC in Riyadh yesterday.
Riyadh: Al Hilal SFC returned to the summit of the AFC Champions League Elite 2024/25 West Zone standings after a 3-0 win against Al Gharafa SC yesterday.
The four-time Asian champions moved level on 16 points with fellow Saudi Arabia side Al Ahli Saudi FC but with a better goal difference while Al Gharafa retained a slim chance of progression as they stayed on four points.
The result also meant UAE’s Al Wasl FC, who drew 1-1 with Qatar’s Al Rayyan SC on Monday, booked their place in the knockout stage.
With qualification assured, Jorge Jesus made four changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Qatar’s Al Sadd SC last week with Aleksandar Mitrovic, Renan Lodi, Joao Cancelo and Hassan Al Tambakti on the bench.
The changes did not hamper Al Hilal, who went ahead in the 18th minute when Yasser Al Shahrani got to the byline on the right flank and his cutback was swept home by Marcos Leonardo for his third goal of the campaign.
Al Shahrani, making his first start in the competition, then let fly one from distance which Rico needed a second attempt to thwart the danger.
Rico continued to be the stumbling block for Al Hilal, twice spreading himself big to win one-on-one duels with Malcom and then Abdullah Al Hamddan and was then saved by the crossbar after Malcom had him beaten as Al Gharafa went into the break just one goal behind.
The half-time interval did little to change the pattern of the game as Al Hilal resumed their dominance in the second half with Malcom going close in the 51st minute, waltzing past Abdallah Sirelkhatim before forcing Rico into producing a good save at his near post.
Al Dawsari was the Al Hilal player to be denied by Rico as after receiving a pass from Malcom in the 70th minute, the Al Hilal captain steadied himself before unleashing a powerful drive from the centre of the box, only to see custodian palm the ball away.
However, Rico could not stop substitute Mitrovic’s stinging low drive from the edge of the box, which took a slight deflection, from going past him in the 82nd minute before Sergej Milinkovic-Savic nodded in the third three minutes later as Al Hilal settled the contest.
