Today, Sunday, Al-Hilal will face his Qatari counterpart Al-Duhail in the 2022 AFC Champions League West Region semi-final at the Al-Tumama Stadium in the Qatari capital Doha, where the elimination rounds of this assembly system version take place. The winner of Sunday’s match qualifies against Japan’s Urawa Reds in the final round of the tournament. The first leg will take place on April 29 at the Western Region Qualifiers, and the second leg will take place on May 6 at Urawa Stadium.
Al-Hilal reached the semi-finals of this version for the seventh time since 2002 after defeating Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai 3–1 in the round of 16 and then over Iran’s Foolad 1–0 in the quarter-finals.
While Al Duhail Qatar achieved this role for the first time in their history, after defeating their compatriot Al Rayyan 7-6 from penalties, after finishing the round of 16 match between them, which was extended to extra time (1-1 ), and then beat Saudi youth 2-1 in the quarter-finals.
Sunday’s match will be the seventh in the history of Al-Hilal vs. Al-Duhail.
Qatar’s Al Duhail is looking forward to an unprecedented achievement by reaching the final match and becoming the second Qatari team to reach the final after Al Sadd, who was crowned in 2011.
Al-Hilal has reached the finals the last 3 times when he reached the semi-finals in 2017, 2019 and 2021.
The match will be played under purely Argentine management, with veteran Ramon Diaz at the helm of Saudi Arabia’s technical team and compatriot Hernan Crespo at Al Duhail.
Ramon Diaz previously managed Crespo’s training when the latter was a player.
The two coaches know each other well, and each of them has studied the other’s team well, knows each other’s strengths and weaknesses.
Diaz won’t change much of the basic formation with which he will enter the match, provided that the Malian Musa Mariga becomes one of his most important weapons in the upcoming confrontation.
Mousa Mariga scored 3 goals for Al Hilal in the AFC Champions League and they were all in the play-offs.
He scored the winning goal against Iran’s Foolad in the quarter-finals of this version, having previously scored against Saudi Al-Nasr in 2021 and against the Pohang Steelers in the final of the same version.
While Kenyan goal machine Michael Olonga will be Crespo’s most important offensive weapon as he has scored 15 goals in 13 AFC Champions League matches since April 2021.