The champions of Asia will be decided by a new finals phase competition in Jeddah over the next eight days.
Gone are the two-legged, home and away finals of the AFC Champions League Elite’s recent past.
Instead, the quarter-finalists have all congregated in the Saudi port city for a snappy, centralised knockout event, with the final to be played on Saturday, May 3.
Some of the sides – like Riyadh superpower Al Hilal – are perennial contenders, but the three Saudi teams will face some challenges over the coming days.
Al Hilal
Manager: Jorge Jesus
Key player: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic
A club with such massive expectations cannot afford to slip up. Fail in this competition, and Jorge Jesus might well be out of a job, despite overseeing a record winning run and a domestic double last season.
Hilal – who are like the Real Madrid of Asia, having won their continental title more times than anyone else – have fallen way short of those standards just lately.
It has parallels to how Madrid have been stuttering in Europe this year, and their respective managers are both said to be on rocky ground.
That is a coincidence, given Jorge Jesus and Carlo Ancelotti, Madrid’s manager, are understood to be the two contenders to be the next Brazil coach.
Gwangju
Manager: Lee Jung-hyo
Key player: Jasir Asani
As a yo-yo club between South Korea’s top two divisions, Gwanju have been a revelation in their first season playing AFC Champions League football.
They earned their tournament debut by a best-ever K League placing of third last season. Then they promptly thrashed Yokohama F Marinos, last season’s beaten finalists, 7-3 in their first match.
Their method is unrelenting attack, led by their Albanian forward Jasir Asani. He – and his team – may have been little heralded before the start, but with nine goals he is the tournament’s joint-leading scorer.
Al Ahli Saudi
Manager: Matthias Jaissle
Key player: Riyad Mahrez
Off the pace in the Saudi Pro League title race, the Jeddah giants will have their confidence buoyed by the switch to continental competition.
The matches are being played in their backyard, after all, where they enjoy extraordinary home support.
Plus their quarter-final fixture against Buriram United is against the lowest-ranked side left in the tournament. The Thai side finished sixth in the league in the East region.
Ahli will be a threat to anyone, seeing as they boast players like Riyad Mahrez and Ivan Toney, who have 13 goals between them in the competition so far.
Buriram United
Manager: Osmar Loss
Key player: Narubadin Weerawatnodom
No Thai club has more Champions League appearances – nine – than Buriram, and they were title winners back at home last season.
They were sixth of the eight sides who qualified for the knock out phase of the competition in the Eest region, then scrapped out a 1-0 win over Malaysian side Johor Darul Ta'zim in the last 16.
While they may be outsiders for the title – or even to lay a glove on Al Ahli in the last eight – the Thai side do at least lay claim to having the best nickname in the competition. They are known informally as “The Thunder Castle.”
Yokohama F Marinos
Interim manager: Patrick Kisnorbo
Key player: Anderson Lopes
The Japanese side are a total contradiction. Consistent enough to return to the finals phase for a second season running, having been runners-up to Al Ain last year under Harry Kewell, and having topped the league in the East region.
Yet so erratic that they were thrashed 7-3 by Gwangju on the opening day of this season’s competition, while they also sacked manager Steve Holland on the eve of travelling to Jeddah.
Gareth Southgate’s former assistant was dismissed after just four months in charge, having won one of 11 league matches.
Given their form – they are bottom of the J League – they will be outsiders when they face Al Nassr.
Al Nassr
Manager: Stefano Pioli
Key player: Cristiano Ronaldo
No side will attract more attention - mainly, but not only, because of the great Ronaldo. Al Nassr are saturated with talent, with the likes of Sadio Mane, Jhon Duran, Aymeric Laporte and Marcelo Brozovic in their ranks.
They might be too far behind Al Ittihad to mount a challenge for the Saudi Pro League title, but they will be optimistic of taking out a first Champions League title. Especially given they are on the other side of the draw to the other two Saudi giants, Hilal and Ahli.
That does bring with it the possibility they could meet their great rivals, Hilal, in an all-Riyadh final in Jeddah on May 3.
Kawasaki Frontale
Manager: Shigetoshi Hasebe
Key player: Yasuto Wakizaka
No Japanese club has played in the Champions League more times than the Fujistu-owned side. However, this is their 11th appearance in the competition and they are yet to make it as far as the semi-finals.
Their quarter-final tie looks to be the one most weighted in the favour of the side from the East region.
Kawasaki finished second in their league phase, while Al Sadd muddled through in the West then only stumbled unconvincingly through their knockout fixture.
Al Sadd
Manager: Felix Sanchez
Key player: Akram Afif
The two-time champions from Qatar were somewhat lucky to make it this far. Al Wasl, the UAE champions, had more than enough chances to put them out over the course of the two legs in their last 16 meeting.
As a counter to that, Al Sadd showed they are clinical enough to put sides away, even when they are no at their best.
Not least Akram Afif, their outstanding winger who was the difference between them and Al Wasl.
He is among the most gifted attackers in the tournament, and will need to be at his best if they are add to the titles they won in 1989 and 2011.
