The AFC Champions League kicks off amid the hustle and bustle of Saudi deals
The AFC Champions League competitions start with a different time identity than the previous versions, by switching to playing during the sports season without regard to the Gregorian year. Previously, the start was from spring to fall, but in the current version it starts from fall to spring, and the start is in September (September). ), and the end in May of the same year.
The development witnessed by the tournament coincides with the brilliant presence of Saudi clubs in the summer transfer market, their dominance of preference on the continent, and their second place globally in terms of spending.
Benzema, Fabinho and Hamdallah during Al-Ittihad’s preparatory training (Al-Ittihad Club)
The nominations are largely directed towards the participating Saudi clubs, Al-Hilal, Al-Ittihad and Al-Nasr, while Al-Fayhaa is attending in its first participation in its history after achieving the King’s Cup title in the previous edition.
The continental championship continues with its previous system, separating the East from the West until the final round, while the list was raised to 35 players in the club lists, and five foreign players were allowed to participate in exchange for one Asian player, without specifying the list, as happens in the past before the start of the group stage, but the choice is left to the coach. Before every match among his players.
In the capital, Riyadh, the Al Hilal team is looking to regain the continental title, which it lost in the last edition to Urawa of Japan, and the Saudi leader launches his journey in the tournament when he receives Nafbakhor of Uzbekistan for the fourth group, which includes alongside him Nesajji of Iran and Mumbai City of India.
Al Hilal enters the arena of Asian competitions as one of the world’s most spending teams in the summer transfer market, after strengthening its ranks with many deals led by Brazilian star Neymar and next to him a group of stars who attended this summer.
This confrontation brings back memories of the 1990s, when they met for the first time in the West Asian quarter-finals, and Al-Hilal won 3-1 at that time.
Al Hilal has exemplary memories of the Uzbek clubs it met in 18 matches, winning 12 of them, drawing four matches and losing two matches while scoring forty goals and conceding only 12 goals.
Al-Ittihad and Ajmak show off their club shirts before the confrontation scheduled for Monday (Al-Ittihad Club)
Al Hilal realizes that the competition will not be difficult for it compared to previous editions in light of the extensive experience it possesses through achieving the continental title four times, including twice under the old system, and twice under the new system within a few years, 2019 and 2021, in addition to its presence in the runner-up of the last edition.
Al Hilal enters the match ecstatic about its great victory over Al Riyadh in the Saudi League by six to one, to take the lead with sixteen points, and armed with its Brazilian star Neymar, along with his compatriot Malcolm Filipe, Serbian Savic and his compatriot Aleksandar Mitrovic, Portuguese Ruben Neves, and Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bono, in addition to the Brazilian. Michel remains from last season on the list of foreign players.
Al Hilal is missing the services of Salem Al Dosari, who will miss the first two matches in the AFC Champions League, due to his suspension by a disciplinary decision for being sent off in the final of the previous edition.
The task will not be difficult for Portuguese Jorge Jesus, who will have to abandon three foreign professional players and rely on five names according to the tournament list, as the team has bright names even with the absence of star Salem Al-Dosari, as it is expected that the confrontation will witness the return of Salman Al-Faraj to the main roster, and the presence of Abdul El-Ilah Al-Maliki after recovering from his injury.
Moroccan international Yassine Bounou may seem to be one of the names that Jesus might be comfortable with in this confrontation, relying on Mohamed Al Owais, or even Senegalese Coulibaly, especially in light of the modest capabilities of the opposing team.
In the city of Jeddah, Al-Ittihad returns to the forefront of Asian competitions after a three-year absence from the tournament, which it won twice in 2004 and 2005 and finished as runner-up in 2009.
Al-Ittihad will host its Uzbek counterpart, Agmak, at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium in Jeddah, for the third group, which includes, alongside it, Sepahan Isfahan of Iran and Al-Quwa Al-Iraqi of Iraq.
Before the start of its journey in the continental championship, Al-Ittihad wrote through its account on the “X” platform: The dean and great of Asia in his favorite tournament again, and attached a video clip that includes the most prominent shots of previous participations in which the team achieved the continental title.
Al-Ittihad has historically outperformed the Uzbek clubs, as they have met 18 previous times in various continental tournaments. Al-Ittihad won 10 matches, tied 6 matches, and lost only 2 matches. Its attack scored 31 goals, while its conceded 15 goals.
Al-Ittihad aspires to appear as hoped and reach the furthest possible point, relying on ideal deals it concluded this summer, led by the French star Karim Benzema, his compatriot N’Golo Kante, the Italian Luiz Felipe, and the Brazilian Fabinho, who comes from the English ranks of Liverpool, and the Al-Ittihad also includes in its ranks the Moroccan Abdel Razzaq Hamad. God, Brazilian Romarinho, and goalkeeper Grohe.
The team’s Portuguese coach, Nuno Santo, will need to dispense with some names in order to choose the foreign quintet, as he is expected to rely on Abdullah Al-Mayouf, the goalkeeper who moved to the team’s ranks coming from Al-Hilal after a great and extensive experience. He won the continental title twice with Al Hilal, in exchange for resting Grohe and taking advantage of his position with a foreign player in another position.
In the same group, and at Franso Hariri Stadium in the city of Erbil in northern Iraq, Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya, runner-up in the past two seasons, is looking for a promising start at the beginning of its journey against Sepahan, the Iranian league champion.
In the second group, the competition between Al-Sadd of Qatar and Al-Sharjah of the Emirates will intensify when they meet at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Monday.
Al Sadd, the two-time AFC Champions League champion (1989 and 2011), begins the journey of the new edition, seeking a different appearance and compensating for the disappointment of exiting from the group stage in the last two editions.
Al Sadd is counting on a strong group of new players that it signed this summer, such as Ecuadorian Goncalo Plata, Brazilians Paulo Otavio and Giovanni Henrique, Colombian Mateus Uribe, and Iranian Amin Hazbawi.
Sharjah qualified for the group stage for the fourth time in a row and the sixth in its history after defeating its guest Bashundara Kings, champions of Bangladesh, 2-0 in the preliminary round, and its host, Traktor of Iran, 3-1 in the deciding round.
In the same group, Al-Faisaly of Jordan will be armed with ground and audience personnel when it hosts Nasaf of Uzbekistan on Monday at Amman International Stadium, in its first appearance in the AFC Champions League competitions.
2023-09-17 21:31:06
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