{"id":4860,"date":"2025-04-26T04:33:31","date_gmt":"2025-04-25T19:03:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/?p=4860"},"modified":"2026-09-25T13:37:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T04:07:04","slug":"al-hilal-put-gwangju-to-the-sword-in-statement-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiangame.net\/ro\/al-hilal-put-gwangju-to-the-sword-in-statement-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Hilal put Gwangju to the sword in statement win"},"content":{"rendered":"

They might\u2019ve been in Jeddah rather than their usual abode in Riyadh, but the Blue Wave still gathered in their thousands, as they usually do, behind the goal at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In among the diehard Al Hilal fans were flags adorned with the words \u2018Asia\u2019s Leader\u2019, the bold and perhaps provocative title that club has given itself; providing a glimpse into the mindset of a club that has made Asia their playground for the better part of the past decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four times since 2017 have they made the final of the AFC Champions League, twice they have won it. That\u2019s a record the envy of every other club across the continent, but batting at fifty percent is not enough for a club that places a premium on success on the continent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Success in Asia is not so much expected, but demanded. It\u2019s an impossibly high bar for anyone to meet, but that is also what sets Al Hilal apart. Other teams know it, and so before a ball is even kicked they\u2019re already inside the mind of their opponents who fear what is to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is a relentless and overwhelming surge from the fans and the players, working in almost perfect harmony to systematically dismantle what\u2019s in front of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When they\u2019re at full flight, it\u2019s a sight to behold and very few can stop them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, however, there was the tinniest crack in their armour after a string of poor domestic performances in recent months. Four defeats in their past 11 has their title defence hanging by a thread as they sit six points behind Al Ittihad with just five games remaining in the Saudi Pro League season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks they\u2019ve dropped points to both Ettifaq and Al Shabab, while it wasn\u2019t that long ago they lost the first leg of their Round of 16 tie against Pakhtakor 1-0, before overpowering the Uzbek side 4-0 in the second leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for a side that recorded 34 consecutive wins only last season, to taste defeat four times in 11 games is as close as they\u2019ll get to a full-blown crisis. The aura that they possess, at least domestically, had begun to fade as teams realised they were able to be got at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So as they prepared to face Gwangju FC, the plucky upstarts from Korea who had already taken the scalp of two-time defending J.League champions, Vissel Kobe, in the Round of 16, were Al Hilal actually vulnerable heading into this game against a side that only a few years ago were playing in K2, the second-tier of domestic football in Korea?<\/p>\n\n\n\n