The AFC Champions League Elite Final is always one of the showpiece events on the Asian football calendar and this year will be no different.
After two thrilling, but quite different semi-finals, we are left with a final that perhaps no one expected when this mini-tournament began one week ago.
Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli will take on Japan’s Kawasaki Frontale at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in a clash that pits Saudi Arabia against Japan; two titans of club football in Asia.
Our experts had their say on this week’s The Asian Game Podcast and analyse the reasons why each team could lift the silverware on Saturday night in Jeddah.
Al Ahli to edge Kawasaki
Michael Church
I think Kawasaki have been very good and they were very good in the in the semi-final in particular. I think Hasebe has shown his ability to manage the resources that he has very, very astutely.
But I do think coming into the final where Kawasaki had only two days between quarter-final and semi-final, and again, they’re hamstrung by the fact that, once more, they only have two days; they have one day less rest than Al Ahli again. So I think that fatigue could just catch up with them a little bit.
I also think that Al Ahli are just a different proposition. We’ve talked about Galeno in particular, I think they have more variety in their attack, they have more pace in their attack. I think they’re also quicker at the back as well, with Ibanez and Demiral, and so I think those areas where Kawasaki profited against Al Nassr, I think they’ll be less likely to be able to profit from being that bit sharper, being that bit quicker and pressing in the way that they did, in the way that they played against Al Nassr.
So I think on pure footballing fundamentals, I think Al Ahli will win this.
Galeno the difference maker
Mohammed Fayad
So first of all, when you get a player like Galeno, that’s what Al Ahli wanted from (Allan) Saint-Maximin last year. Obviously he was cutting inside and dribbling a lot, but they needed a player that could stretch the pitch. Feras Al-Buraikan came in at the left wing in the first half of the season, but he’s a striker, so he goes in more centrally, and he’s more of like a defensive forward when he plays there and helps the team with the pressing and coming back.
But Galeno has been amazing in freeing up the other parts of Al Ahli, because that means (Franck) Kessie now has more space to get in that left half space, and when Kessie is on the right, and Al-Johani’s inside, you get Ibanez pushing up into that left half space to play through balls or to even cut attacks (off) before they get there.
And Ibanez has been on absolute top form this season, in my opinion, both offensively, in terms of build up and scoring, and even defensively. Last season, he had a lot of cases where you’d find them up the pitch and had he looked crazy defensively, but now it’s like the guy goes up and still somehow manages to either get covered behind him or to stop the attacks himself, which is very good.
He’s playing with such high confidence, and when him and Demiral came in, it was interesting to see which one of them was going to play better. Demiral has had his good moments, but it’s definitely been Ibanez, who’s the star of that defence, in my opinion, by far and in my opinion the best centre back in the Saudi league this season, by country mile.
Kawasaki have nothing to lose
Sean Carroll
He’s (Hasebe) used his squad well, and they’ve got players capable of coming in, and the level doesn’t drop. So I think he’ll look at Al Ahli’s games, he’ll see what he thinks Kawasaki need to do, and he’ll pick the players that he thinks will be able to enact that, and then he’s got options to come off the bench.
I mean, realistically, I think there’s two ways to look at it, and I think Kawasaki are playing with house money. I don’t think they went there as much as they’re talking about, ‘we’re going to win it’, I don’t think they realistically thought, looking at the schedule, the travel, the teams they had to play, that they were really going to be going there to win it. So now they’re in the final. They’ve beaten Cristiano Ronaldo and Co., they got through in extra time from the first game. So they’re now going to come back amongst their own fans, and then for J.League neutrals to pretty much a hero’s welcome for what they did.
I think it’s it’s hilarious that that the AFC haven’t got their Cristiano Ronaldo against Al Hilal final. I think it’s wonderful that we’ve shown that football is not just about chucking money and going, ‘here we go, look at these famous names on Instagram, they’re going to win.’ I think it’s fantastic that a well-coached football team, as Michael said, these are players that have either gone to Europe, not quite done it, and come back, or not really maybe seen as being good enough to go to Europe, but they’re still incredibly good players.
And now these Japanese players are in the J.League are not intimidated by all that, excited about playing against famous names, because they know that if you’re a young player like Kota Takai, this is what you want to be doing. You can’t be thinking, ‘oh, I want to get Ronaldo shirt.’ It’s ‘I want to be going to Europe and playing against these players every week.’
So they can’t be intimidated. They can’t get excited about it, and I didn’t see much of it, but after the game, you didn’t see many Kawasaki players trying to shake Ronaldo’s hand, they’re not interested in that side of it anymore. They’ve gone there to compete, and now they’re in the final So I think they’ll be quietly confident again, because they’ve got nothing to lose. They’ve shown that they can mix it with these teams defensively (and) they’re well organised.
The first choice back four, I think, will pretty much stay in place. In midfield they’ve got four or five players, six players (even) that are all pretty much of a likeness. Yes, Wakizaka maybe is a slight level above. Ozeki is very talented and looks like one for the future. Whether he’ll start again, I’m not sure. But with Tachibanada as well, Kawahara is another good player to play in there, they’ve got options.
And as I said, with the attacking options as well, they’ve got different kinds of players to suit different situations. If they decide they want to try and start quickly again, they’ll maybe go with a bit of pace, a bit of pressing from the front, try and get an early lead. If they decide that it’s best to kind of just try not to concede, and take the game a bit further, they might start with someone like Ienaga, who’s going to take the sting out of the game, keep possession, try and make things happen.
So I think they’ll be quietly confident, but they won’t be going in with any nerves, and I think now the pressure almost is on Al Ahli, because they are pretty much expected to now win it, so Kawasaki can go in and, it’s easier said than done, but I think they can go in and enjoy the final.
Al Ahli are a changed side
Paul Williams
I went back and looked at the stats, and I know they’ve been in improved form in the Saudi Pro League, sort of since November, they had a defeat in the Jeddah Derby to Al Ittihad. But since that time, they’ve turned it around, and I went back and had a look, and Matthias Jaissle had some quotes that that was sort of a turning point for them. They they came together as a group after that game, had some honest conversations about what they needed to do to improve to get back on track.
So if you just take the season from that point forward, there’s been 20 games since that point of the season. If you were to run the ladder for those 20 games, they’re a game clear on top of the table. And in that time, they’ve been undefeated in the Champions League as well. I mean, Matthias almost lost his job in January, which seems crazy to to think about, but it’s interesting how we we view them, they sort of fly under the radar, despite the fact they have been for the last couple of months, the best team in the Saudi Pro League.
(And) the difference (Galeno) has made to the balance and the structure of their side has been transformational. And again, just to quote some stats, I went through and had a look and before Galeno arrived, they scored 32 goals in 18 games, about 1.7 goals a game. They’ve scored 28 goals in 11 games since he’s arrived at about 2.5 goals a game. He’s completely changed the the attacking impetus and the way they attack. So he’s been such a huge difference.
And what he’s done, because Ivan Toney at the start of the season was copping criticism for his performances, (but) he’s started to find the goals now, and 12 of his 19 goals this season have come since Galeno has arrived, and I don’t think that’s any coincidence, because it has transformed the way that they play. So for me, he’s been he’s been crucial.
Listen to Episode 244 of The Asian Game Podcast as we preview the AFC Champions League Elite Final
