On 18 November, Urawa Red Diamonds drew against the Saudi Arabian cub, Al-Hilal, 1-1 in the 1st leg of the AFC Champions League (ACL) 2017 Final. Urawa’s Rafael DA SILVA scored the opening goal in the 7th minute and Al-Hilal levelled the match on 37 minutes, but Urawa’s tenacious defence led by goalkeeper NISHIKAWA Shusaku kept the threatening opponents from scoring until the end of the match and forced a 1-1 draw. Urawa have earned a precious point in the away leg and will host the 2nd leg at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Saturday 25 November.

Coaches' and Player's Comments

HORI Takafumi, Coach (Urawa Red Diamonds)
It was not a bad result to finish the match at one all considering it was an away game and we will be playing the second leg at home. We had to spend a long time defending and there were difficult stretches, but our players defended solidly and with resilience as well. In the next match at home, I expect that we will have more chances to attack.

NISHIKAWA Shusaku, (Urawa Red Diamonds)
Even before the match started, we knew that playing an away game would be difficult. Even such is the case, I believe that we have managed to get the minimum result before hosting the next match in Japan. However, we haven't achieved anything yet. Our goal is to win the next home game and become the Asian Champions. (Regarding the fact that we defended well and kept the opponents from scoring during tough stretches) Football is a team-sport and there are occasions where my teammates make a mistake or I make an error during the game. Today, I just concentrated on supporting my teammates as a goalkeeper.

Ramón Díaz, Coach (Al-Hilal)
We were not organised in creating effective attacks and performed poorly in the beginning of the match, but made the necessary adjustments as the game went on. We missed about eight good chances, but I think we will be able to take advantage of this experience for the next match. I am proud of this team and have confidence in my players as well. They made several promising chances today and we will continue to have faith and aim at scoring goals. Now, we must first focus our efforts on creating scoring chances. I believe that we had a good match today and it left us with a chance to win it in the second leg. We will do our best in the coming match as well.

Tournament Period：24 January 2017 (Tue.) ～ 25 November 2017 (Sat.)

Final 2nd Leg
25 November 2017 (Sat.) Kick-ff TBC
Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) vs Al-Hilal (Saudi Arabia)

For Tournament Information