The second leg of the AFC Champions League (ACL) 2017 Final was held at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Saturday 25 November and winners Urawa Red Diamonds became the Asian champions for the first time in 10 years. Urawa with the 88th-minute goal from Rafael DA SILVA edged the second match 1-0 and won the final 2-1 on aggregate over Al-Hilal, who were aiming to win the championship for the first time in their club history.

Urawa had previously claimed the ACL title in 2007 and this was their second time to become the club champions in Asia. The last Japanese club to win the tournament was Gamba Osaka nine years ago in 2008. Da Silva, the scorer of the deciding goal, was selected as the ‘Man of the Match’, while midfielder KASHIWAGI Yosuke was awarded the ‘Most Valuable Player’ of the championship.

After scoring an away goal and drawing the first game 1-1 in the City of Riyadh a week ago, Urawa needed a scoreless draw or a win in the second leg to win the final. In case of a draw with two or more goal scored in regulation time, Al-Hilal will become the winners of the championship.

Same players as the first match started the second game at home. Urawa made slight adjustment in their formation by increasing the number of defensive midfielders from one to two and placed midfielder NAGASAWA Kazuki just behind the forward players.

Al-Hilal, on the other hand, named midfielder Nawaf ALABID to start in place of midfielder CARLOS EDUARDO, who had picked up an injury in the first game. This was the only change in the starting XI that the team had made as they had clearly indicated their intent to stick to the same strategy as last week's game.

The match started with Urawa coming out strongly with Nagasawa creating early chances and threatening the Al-Hilal’s goal. Then in the 8th minute, the Urawa midfielder intercepted the ball and fired a shot at goal, but his effort was easily saved by the opposing goalkeeper.

Thereafter, Urawa faced stronger pressure from the opponents and struggled to connect effective passes after they regained possession. In midfield, there were few instances they had stolen the ball and attempted to hit on the counter, but before they had any chance of orchestrating a promising attack, they gave away the ball right back to the opposing team. Then in the 26th minute, Al-Hilal’s midfielder Salem ALDAWSARI robbed the ball and struck at Urawa’s goal just outside of the penalty area. It was a decent effort, but went slightly above the crossbar.

Al Hilal’s initiated their attacks with fullbacks taking up high positions on each side and midfielder Nicolas MILESI working his way through the attacking third of the pitch to come close to the opponents’ goal. In the 33rd minute, left back Yasir ALSHAHRANI on the overlap sent a cross towards forward Omar KHRIBIN in the middle, but defender MAKINO Tomoaki cleared it out of danger before it reached him.

While Urawa was having a difficult time in finding their attacking rhythm, Al-Hilal made a pair of attempts at goal. Aldawsari fired one in the 41st minute and Milesi played a neat give-and-go and struck moments later, but his finish went wide of the goalpost.

After a scoreless first half, Urawa threatened the opponents from the start of the second with Da Silva reacting to a cross from the left and attempted to score just outside of the penalty area. Nagasawa also fired at goal six minutes later, but both failed to hit the target and open the scoring for their side.

Against the Urawa club who stayed fairly deep at around the hour mark, Al-Hilal came close to scoring with Milese and Alshahrani taking the ball up the pitch. However, their leading scorer with 10 goals, Omar Khirbin, picked up an injury and had to the leave the pitch on 62nd minute. More bad news for the Saudi Arabian club came on 78 minutes when Alshahrani was sent off after getting booked for the second time in the game.

Urawa had few chances before their opponents were down to 10 ten men. MUTO Yuuki reacted to UGAJIN Tomoya’s left cross with a header in the 70th minute and KOROKI Shinzo met Kashiwagi’s free kick with a header on 73rd minutes, but a pair of attempts were well defended by the goalkeeper.

Urawa brought on defender MAURICIO to add stability in the backline, while they looked for their chances to score from counter-attacks. Then the Urawa club succeeded in breaking the deadlock in the 88th minute.

Near the halfway line, Muto got to the loose ball first and deliverd a direct pass between the two defenders and towards the right side of the box, where Da Silva collected the ball after making a quick turn to evade the challenge of the onrushing defender and smashed an right footer on to the upright to claim the wiinner of the match. The stadium filled with 57,727 spectators roared and the Urawa fans were cheering for an emphatic finish which was the ninth goal for Da Silva in the championship.

With this result, Urawa will participate in the FIFA Club World Cup at Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates from 6 December as Asian champions.

Match Report (Japanese version only)

Coaches' and Players' Comments

HORI Takafumi, Coach (Urawa Red Diamonds)
I appreciate that fans and supporters created an excellent atmosphere for us today, and would also like to express my gratitude and respect for former coach PETROVIC, who had laid the foundation of the team. I believe one of the primary reasons why we won the match today is that we made a good preparation and performed well taking into consideration how we played and the result we attained in the first match. We focused first on defence in the away game, but intended to keep better possession after intercepting the ball at home. We didn’t put enough pressure on the opponents last time and created instability in our defence, and decided to put more pressure on the passer in today’s game. The players felt strongly about winning the ACL and were highly motivated as well. Fans and supporters created an amazing atmosphere at home. I believe those were the keys to winning the match today.

FW Rafael DA SILVA (Urawa Red Diamonds)
(Regarding the goal I scored) I made a quick turn to collect an excellent ball from Muto and found myself with space to strike a powerful shot. I am over the moon that we attained our ultimate goal of winning the championship. Our opponents were a strong team with players having excellent individual skills. I am glad that we displayed our strength and secured a win against such a great team. I believe that we played smart and it allowed us to display the strength of our team as well.

MF KASHIWAGI Yosuke (Urawa Red Diamonds)
We played against plenty of great teams in this championship. We struggled playing away games, but performed well at home. This is, however, exactly the way that we intended to play. We display our real strength as a team when we play at Saitama Stadium. It is a wonderful strength that the team have enjoyed along with our supporters.

DF ABE Yuki (Urawa Red Diamonds)
There wasn’t a single easy game for us and the same is true for today’s match. I must say that the staff and supporters of Urawa all fought together and gave us the strength to win today. It was a team effort that brought us a win today. Now, we not only have to capitalise on this experience but also share the responsibility that we have to continue our hard work and strengthen the team.

Ramón Díaz, Coach (Al-Hilal)
My players performed really well and I am satisfied with today’s game. All of us, including the president of our club, were aiming to win the championship. However, we couldn’t capitalise on our numerous scoring chances that we had in the first game. Added was we the injury to one of our key players, Carlos EDUARDO, in the first leg and we further lost our top scoring forward, Omar Kharbin, in the second half of today’s match. I believe that those key injuries made it even more difficult for us to win the final. Urawa displayed excellent defence and, especially, their pressing in midfield was outstanding. I congratulate Urawa for winning the championship.

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

For Tournament Information