It was a pretty big journey for Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez and Al-Ahli, who lifted the AFC Champions League Elite Trophy for the first time after their first defeat of 60,000 fans in Jeddah before midnight on Saturday.
Firmino has not yet registered in the Saudi Professional League (SPL), and this year the team has allowed only 10 foreign players. The former Liverpool man's position was signed from Porto in January by his Brazilian compatriot Galeno. However, in Asia, without such restrictions, "Bobby" returned to the game and performed so well that he was appointed MVP for the tournament.
advertise
Related: "This costs a lot of money": Saudi Fencing Saint comes to Times Square
A splendid Firmino said after achieving both goals: "There is no words to express my feelings," his league replacement for the first curling strike, the second was Barcelona former Barcelona and Milan midfielder Franck Kessié. "They took me out of the league...but I don't give up, I never give up."
Mahrez almost won third for al-ahli, which would bring his game goal to 10 points. Questions about the weight and form of Algerians seem to have been a long time. Like his teammates, he added the Asian Champions League title to the Europeans.
One day, Al-Ahli's head coach Matthias Jaissle will want to go another way. Earlier this year, there were strong rumors that the 37-year-old German would be replaced by the larger named Max Allegri. In Saudi Arabia, such reports are usually fired, but this time they are not fired, and the reward is the mainland crown of the team who was partitioned for the second time after shocking the relegation a few years ago.
advertise
The celebration lasted for several hours. Jeddah, with its wide roads, the backdrop of the Red Sea and the need to drive anywhere, is not like the football city that first arrived, but it soon becomes obvious that, thanks to another Asian champion of Al-Ittihad, also called it home, it is now one of the hotbeds of Asia. This was the case before Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) took over two clubs and Riyadh's Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr in 2023.
Spending £800 million in the initial transfer window and subsequent deals changed Asian football. In some ways, this has pushed the Champions League. The Asian Football Federation (AFC) never really knew how to promote tournaments across the continent to promote very different markets and cultures. But then Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Neymar and the rest all fell into their knees. Marketing has done it.
Suddenly, the Asian Champions League became big news in ways that had never happened before, except for a while, when Chinese teams spent a lot of time ten years ago, it was a little bit short of it. Saudi clubs are competitive before spending a lot, adding world-class talent among strong competitors has a rather predictable impact on the stadium, and subsequent domination is a problem. In this regard, it says that five-time Japanese champion Kawasaki was defeated by Al-Ahli to the finals and never really wore gloves in the end.
A new format was set up on site, which saw two groups of 12 groups, one in the west and one in the east, replacing 10 four groups. Reducing entry may be a mistake when interest increases, but hopefully the standards will increase. They did it on the top. In the group stage, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Nassr entered the top three, winning 18 and winning five games and losing only one of 24 games.
advertise
The AFC has decided to host all matches in the quarterfinals of Jeddah. Strangely - or perhaps without saying that the political power of Asian football has been moving from east to west for a long time - is not saying too much. However, when the last eight games finally met, the three local teams beat the Eastern opposition with a total score of 14-1, the question of decisions could not be ignored.
Gwangju FC is a Korean team that debuted in mainland Korea, with over 20 hours of travel, with a salary bill of 30 times higher than theirs compared to teams playing at home. Al-Hilal won the game 7-0, and even if the K-League team achieved a shocking result, the semi-final against Al-Ahli will be in the semi-finals, with a team roaring by 60,000 fans, whose salary bills are 28 times higher than theirs. The new format brings Gwangju's glory opportunity from small to almost non-existent.
Saudi clubs are obviously the best club in Asia, and do not require automatic home advantage during the knockout stage, and they do not need to play. There is nothing wrong with the old house and the exterior format. It's fair, which means that, although Jeddah or Riyadh still has the opportunity to host big games in a spectacular way, if their team goes that far, so do everyone else.