Al Hilal, coached by Portuguese Jorge Jesus, beat Al Ittihad 2-1 in the semi-finals of the Saudi King’s Cup on Tuesday to reach the final of the tournament.
Jorge Jesus’ side opened the scoring in the 25th minute through Brazilian Michael, beating two defenders and Al Ittihad’s goalkeeper to find the net – a lead they maintained until the break.
However, Al-Hilal suffered a setback – Serbian midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was sent off in the 42nd minute for a very hard tackle on an opponent.
Outnumbered, the side coached by Argentine Marcelo Gallardo equalized in the 67th minute through Moroccan striker Abderrazaq Hamdallah, but Al-Hilal still managed to secure victory in the 82nd minute thanks to a goal from right-back Saud Abdulhamid.
Portugal international Ruben Neves played 90 minutes for Jorge Jesus’ side and was yellow-carded at 90+3 for pulling an opponent, while his compatriot Jota started the game on the Al Ittihad bench but was brought on in the 61st minute. , forcing Moroccan goalkeeper Bono to make a superb save in the 80th.
Al-Hilal, the current isolated leader of the Saudi League and favorite to win the title, have thus secured their place in the King’s Cup final and are now waiting to find out whether they will face Luis Castro’s Al-Nasr. Cristiano Ronaldo and Otavio, or Al-Khaleej, coached by another Portuguese, Pedro Emanuel, will face each other on Wednesday in the other semi-final.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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