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LONDON: Even though he faces a race against time to be fit for Saturday’s first leg of the AFC Champions League final against Urawa Reds in Riyadh, Nawaf Al-Abed says Al-Hilal will use the pain of their 2014 final defeat as motivation to go one better.
Three years ago the Saudi giants went into the second leg of the final at home against Western Sydney trailing 1-0 from the first match.
Al-Hilal returned to Riyadh confident of overturning the result, and while they dominated the match they couldn’t find a way past Western Sydney goalkeeper Ante Covic. On top of missed opportunities in front of goal, the hosts were controversially denied three clear-cut penalties by Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura.
The circumstances of that defeat still hurt for Al-Abed and he claims his Al-Hilal teammates need only remember the pain they felt after the final whistle to motivate them to go one better against Urawa Reds.
“No player or fan of Hilal can forget that final in which we were subjected to unprecedented injustice,” the 27-year-old told Arab News.
“But we have not and will not stop at that loss, which will increase our strength and determination to achieve the desired goal of winning the title.”
Before he can utilize the hurt he felt three years ago Al-Abed first has to convince his boss, Ramon Diaz, that he’s fit enough to make the starting lineup. The forward has been instrumental in helping Al-Hilal reach the final for the second time in four years, but has played just once since September and flew to Paris recently for more scans and X-rays as he seeks to overcome inflammation of the bones in the upper part of his leg.
Speaking exclusively to Arab News before he left for France, the 27-year-old was coy on his availability for the final.
“To date this has not been determined,” he said. “I will be doing an X-ray in Paris to determine the possibility.”
While it is understood those scans and X-rays have given Al-Abed the all-clear to return, his lack of game time over the past two months will no doubt leave him short of match fitness, something Diaz will have to take into consideration ahead of Saturday’s clash.
Al-Hilal have been in scintillating form in this year’s campaign and go into the final undefeated in all 12 AFC Champions League matches in 2017.
In a warning for Urawa Reds, their two best performances have come in their past three matches — the 3-0 quarter-final second-leg win over Al-Ain in Riyadh, and the 4-0 hammering of Iranian side Persepolis in the first leg of the semifinal in neutral Abu Dhabi.
On both occasions it was Al-Hilal’s imposing and dynamic attack that stole the show, firstly with a hat-trick from Brazilian Carlos Eduardo against Al-Ain, followed by another hat-trick by Syrian star Omar Khrbin against Persepolis.
Both are key men for Al-Hilal, and together with Al-Abed, should he play, form a formidable attack.
Given their size and stature in Asia, it is hard to believe that Al-Hilal haven’t tasted continental success since they won the Asian Club Championship, the predecessor to the AFC Champions League, in 2000.
While it can be argued that not every club across Asia takes the AFC Champions League as seriously as they should, that is an accusation that cannot be levelled against the Riyadh side, where winning the competition borders on obsession.
“One of the most important goals that every Hilal player and fan strives to achieve is the AFC Champions League title,” Al-Abed said.
“We have a strong team now, we have been able to deliver very distinctive performances and positive results in the current version of the tournament, and we will do all we can to complete this effort and the work we have done to achieve the title of the tournament.”
Should Al-Hilal win the title this year it will continue a remarkable year for both Al-Abed and Saudi football, after the national team qualified for their first FIFA World Cup in 12 years back in September.
This, according to Al-Abed, is proof that Saudi football is on the right path to once again becoming a super power in Asian football.
“Hopefully the results achieved by the Saudi team by qualifying for the finals of the World Cup, and the arrival of Hilal to the AFC Champions League final are proof that we are on a healthy path.”