Saudi Arabian giants Al Hilal had Ali Al Bulayhi to thank as his last-gasp goal saved the star-studded side from a shock home defeat at the hands of Uzbek side Navbahor Namagan in their AFC Champions League opener on Monday night.
4-time ACL champions Al Hilal fielded a star-studded side for their opening match of their 2023 continental campaign, featuring names such as Neymar, Ruben Neves, Malcom, and Aleksandar Mitrovic. Navbahor, on the other hand, were making their ACL debut and were playing their first continental match since losing the 1999/2000 Asian Cup Winners’ Cup third place play-off, a good 23 years ago. This, naturally, led to many backing Al Hilal to post a dominant win to kickstart their ACL journey this season, especially considering that the match against Navbahor was played at Al Hilal’s own home ground, the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh.
The overall proceedings went as expected, with Al Hilal flooring the gas from the get-go and dominating the encounter. What the Saudis did not expect, however, was Navbahor’s stubborn defense, who repelled the likes of former Fulham striker Mitrovic and former Paris Saint-Germain superstar Neymar, with goalkeeper Utkir Yusupov in fine form to keep the Uzbeks well and alive in the game.
And then, ten minutes into the second half, the unthinkable happened.
Navbahor initiated a rapid counterattack after soaking up an Al-Hilal attack, as Jamshid Iskanderov provided Toma Tabatadze with a pass that found its way behind the Saudi giants’ defense. The Georgian forward outplayed the final defender and unleashed a powerful shot that eluded Mohammed Al Owais at his close post, granting Navbahor a shock lead that stunned the King Fahd International Stadium.
And incredibly, Navbahor managed to clung onto their lead throughout most of the second half. Yusupov managed to ward off a dangerous chance from substitute Mohammed Kanno in the 80th minute, before the Uzbek goalkeeper managed to parry away a Neymar header, denying the Brazilian superstar his first ACL goal.
The Uzbeks could’ve sealed their shocking and historic win in the 89th minute, after a long ball from the Al Hilal defense found Jasurbek Yakhshiboev, who broke free and found himself one-on-one against Al Owais. Yakhshiboev himself is no stranger to shock results, after all, he had opened the scoring in Sheriff Tiraspol’s shock 2-1 win away at Real Madrid in the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League group stages. However, there would be no repeat of such heroics, as Al Owais pulled-off a last-minute stop to deny Yakhshiboev his goal.
And it was Al Hilal who would eventually breathe a sigh of relief as deep into injury time, as a Michael cross was met by a thumping header from defender Al Bulayhi, with the ball finally going beyond Yusupov’s reaches and earning the hosts a solitary point.