Marcelo Gallardo
's first experience
in the
Asian Champions League
ended in the worst way.
He was unable to score a goal for
Al Ittihad
in the quarterfinal series against
Al Hilal
, which with its 2-0 victory in the rematch this Tuesday also achieved a
Guinness record for consecutive victories
, by achieving its
28th
success .
It was
another slap in the face for Muñeco in his hand-to-hand duels with Jorge Jesús
, who beat him in the final of the 2019 Copa Libertadores between Flamengo and River, and now took him out of the maximum objective he had in his first season at the Arabian club. Saudi.
He didn't have Karim Benzema, Gallardo.
Perhaps that explains the lack of scoring effectiveness that he showed in the series, with two defeats by the same score (2-0) and no ability to react to his fans.
Al Ittihad's last medical report, last week, had indicated a muscle ailment, without much detail.
But after the convulsive preseason in which the French forward did not arrive in time for a trip with the squad and caused the Argentine coach to displace him for a few weeks, all the rumors are fueled by this type of absences at the most necessary moment for the team.
Beyond that,
Al Hilal was a fair winner
.
The arrival of star players to the most successful club in Saudi Arabia has made it continue to grow and be unstoppable, despite the fact that the Brazilian star
Neymar Jr
was only able to play five games in the season, due to a torn ligament in his knee. left, which is in the last stage of recovery.
Photo: REUTERS/Stringer
The Portuguese Jorge Jesús also added players such as the Moroccan goalkeeper
Yassine Bounou
,
Kalidou Koulibaly
,
Sergej Milinkovic Savic
,
Aleksandar Mitrovic
,
Malcom
,
Rubén Neves
and
Renan Lodi
in the last transfer market .
This Tuesday, goals from
Yasir Al Shahrani
and
Malcom
, in the second half, doomed Gallardo's team's hope of a comeback.
Now, Al Hilal will be a rival of
Al Ain
, the team led by another Argentine like
Hernán Crespo
and that struck the blow by eliminating Al Nassr of the Portuguese
Cristiano Ronaldo
.
Al Hilal's Guinness Record
The milestone that Al Hilal broke this Tuesday comes within the economic injection of the Kingdom of Arabia for the 'Vision 2030' project, which seeks to achieve the largest sporting events in the world.
The records of Al-Za'eem, as the institution is nicknamed, reinforce the bet of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and the current leader of the Saudi league became the club with the most consecutive victories in football.
With the victory over Al Ittihad, they left behind The New Saints FC, from Wales, which had achieved 27 consecutive successes in the 2016/17 season to move to Ajax between 1971 and 1972, which maintained that mark at 26 for 44 years.
Al Hilal's victories were in official tournaments and were divided as follows: 16 for the Arab League, 9 for the Asian Champions and 3 for the King's Cup of Saudi Arabia.