Al-Hilal targets glory in Saitama

CAIRO – 25 November 2017 : Al-Hilal faces Urawa Red Diamonds at AFC Champions League final second leg at Saitama, Japan. The game starts at 12:15 p.m. (Cairo local Time) in Saitama 2002 Stadium.

Al-Hilal searches for their third title in the competition as they won the title twice in 1991 and 2000, while their Japanese opponent won the title once in 2007.

Urawa Red players hope to get the best of the support of more than 63,000 fans who are expected to pack the stadium.

Al-Hilal misses their Brazllian striker, Carlos Eduardo for injury and their manager, Ramon Diaz will replace him with Nawaf El Abed.

“Carlos Eduardo is very important to us, but we always put emphasis on working as a group, Nawaf is coming back from injury but he is ready to perform well like he did in the first match. The most important thing is that all the players have a strong will to win the game," Diaz told press on Friday.
Diaz will leave the veteran, Mohamed El-Shalhoub on bench to help the team in the second half. Shalhoub is the only player in Al-Hilal squad who won the title in 2000.

The first leg in Saudi Arabia ended with a 1-1 draw. Rafael Silva opened the score for Urawa and Omar Khribin equalized the score for Al-Hilal.