The AFC Champions League (ACL) 2019 final will take place on Saturday 9 and Sunday 24 November, where Urawa Red Diamonds will seek for their third ACL title against Al Hilal SFC (Saudi Arabia).

The same fixture took place in the 2017 final, where Urawa drew the first leg 1-1 at Riyadh, followed by a home 1-0 victory, thanks to Rafael SILVA’s goals in both legs. For Urawa this was their second ACL title since winning their first title in 2007.

With Kashima Antlers claiming last year’s title, Urawa can potentially bring back the title to Japan in three consecutive years. None of the countries have achieved such feat under the current ACL format. Even extending back to the Asian Club Championship era, which started in 1967, Korea Republic is the only country to have achieved that feat, when they took back the title from 1995 from 1998.

Urawa’s opponent at the final, Al Hilal, has won the Asian Club Championship title in 1991 and 2000, but has yet to win the ACL title. The team has advanced to the final in 2014 and 2017 but finished as the runners-up in both occasions.

Al Hilal featuring strong offence

Al Hilal has competed in the same group as Al-Duhail (Qatar) and Al Ain (UAE), where NAKAJIMA Shoya and SHIOTANI Tsukasa played for respectively, where they finished as the group leaders with a record of four wins, one draw, and one loss. At the round of 16, they defeated Al-Ahli (Saudi Arabia) with an aggregate score of 4-3, followed by a quarterfinal victory over Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia) with an aggregate score of 3-1. In their action filled semi-finals, the team won against Al Sadd (Qatar) with a total score of 6-5 to reach the final.

The team has experienced a coach change in late April, where coach Zoran MAMIC was sacked after the team’s massive defeat at the Kings Cup semi-finals. While Brazilian coach, Pericles CHAMUSCA, was appointed as the acting coach until the end of the season, their current coach, Razvan LUCESCU, took over the helm in July.

Last season, coach Lucescu has led the Greek club, PAOK, to achieve the clubs first ever domestic double by winning both the Greek Super League and the Greek Cup title. After arriving to Saudi Arabia, the Romanian coach has led Al Hilal in first place of the domestic league, with a record of six wins, two draws, and a loss. The team has scored a remarkable 26 goals in nine league matches this season.

The team’s offence is propelled by French attacker Bafetimbi GOMIS and Brazilian midfielder Carlos EDUARDO. Gomis has scored five goals in three consecutive league matches, while marking a tournament leading 10 goals at the ACL this season. The team has also welcomed Italian striker, Sebastian GIOVINCO, in January, followed by adding Andre CARRILLO from Benfica and JANG Hyun-Soo from FC Tokyo in July. The team also consists veteran players from the Saudi Arabia National Team, like Mohammad AL-SHALHOUB, Salman AL-FARAJ, and Salem AL-DAWSARI.

The team has recently registered a 4-1 victory over a second division club, Arar, at the first round of the Kings Cup, but the team had rotated most of their core players ahead of the upcoming match against Urawa. Their official website reported that the team has gone through a training session on Tuesday 5 to go over the team’s tactics for the big match.

Urawa arrives in Riyadh early

After making their way through the group stage with a record of three wins, one draw, and two losses, second only to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors (Korea Republic), the team advanced through the round of 16 with an aggregate score of 4-2 against Ulsan Hyundai (Korea Republic). The team squeezed through the quarterfinals with a tied score of 4-4 against Shanghai SIPG (China PR), where they had the one goal advantage in away goals.

At the semi-finals, Urawa faced Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao (China PR), where they won both the home and away matches, 2-0 and 1-0 respectively, thanks to the goals scored by their ace, KOROKI Shinzo. With his eight goal scored at this year’s ACL, Koroki has registered 26 goals at the ACL, which is a career high among all Japanese players. Throughout the tournament, Urawa has showcased a strong defence led by IWANAMI Takuya , SUZUKI Daisuke, and MAKINO Tomoaki, while their wingers, HASHIOKA Daiki and SEKINE Takahiro, showing great effectiveness at the flanks.

Their goalkeeper, NISHIKAWA Shusaku, will be suspended for the first leg, due to accumulative yellow cards, but their back up goalkeeper, FUKUSHIMA Haruki, will step up to the occasion to defend the Urawa goal.

With the team making a deep run at the ACL, Urawa was forced to go through a cluster of J.League matches, as they played three matches within eight days. The team has struggled at the J.League this season, as they currently rank 11th in the league, this ACL gives them their final chance to earn a title this season.

The team has rotated their line-up in their match against Kawasaki on Tuesday 5, and travelled to Saudi Arabia later that night after the match.

The first leg will take place on Saturday 9 November at 19:30 (Sunday 10 at 1:30 Japan time). The second leg will be played at Saitama Stadium 2002 on Sunday 24 November at 19:00.

Tournament Dates:
Play-offs: Tue. 5 - Tue. 19 February 2019
Group Stage: Mon. 4 March - Wed. 22 May 2019
Round of 16: Tue. 18 June - Tue. 13 August 2019
Quarterfinals: Tue. 27 August - Wed. 18 September 2019
Semi-finals: Tue. 1 - Wed. 23 October 2019
Final: 1st Leg/Sat. 9 November 2019, 2nd Leg/Sun. 24 November 2019

Tournament Information