{"id":31617,"date":"2026-04-25T23:47:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/al-ahly-defended-their-afc-champions-league-elite-title-by-defeating-machida-zelvia-in-extra-time\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T23:47:31","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T23:47:31","slug":"al-ahly-defended-their-afc-champions-league-elite-title-by-defeating-machida-zelvia-in-extra-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/al-ahly-defended-their-afc-champions-league-elite-title-by-defeating-machida-zelvia-in-extra-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Al Ahly defended their AFC Champions League Elite title by defeating Machida Zelvia in extra time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) \u2014 Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Al Ahly successfully defended their AFC Champions League Elite title on Saturday by defeating first-time finalist Machida Zelbia of Japan 1-0.<\/p>\n<p>In front of a crowd of 60,000 mostly Al Ahly fans in Jeddah, it took an extra-time goal from Saudi international striker Firas Al Burikan to settle a rough final.<\/p>\n<p>Al Ahly played for almost an hour with 10 men, but Machida was unable to capitalize on their advantage.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s amazing,&#8221; said Al Ahly winger Riyad Mahrez, who won the UEFA Champions League with Manchester City in 2023. &#8220;Once again it was difficult for us. We like to create difficulties for ourselves. 10-11 is almost impossible. I don&#8217;t know how we found the strength and energy. &#8230; After the red card we came together and fought more and ran more until we scored.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>There were few chances to score in the first half, but Al Ahly, owned by Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Public Investment Fund, should have taken the lead when Brazilian winger Galeno broke through Machida&#8217;s defence, but his low shot was saved by goalkeeper Tsunenari Tani. Just before the break, Meri Demiral&#8217;s shot from close range was blocked on the line.<\/p>\n<p>Midway through the second half, Al Ahly were reduced to 10 men after Zakaria Housawi was sent off for headbutting Tete Yangi when the two players were together in front of the referee.<\/p>\n<p>The dismissal changed the momentum. Machida forced Al Ahly goalkeeper Edouard Mendy to make several saves. Al Ahly substitute Mohamed Abdulrahman was also shown a red card on the sideline and regular time ended.<\/p>\n<p>In the sixth minute of extra time, the deadlock was broken when former Barcelona and AC Milan midfielder Franck Kessi\u00e9 laid the ball off and Al Brican found the back of the net from close range.<\/p>\n<p>Al Ahly became the first team to win back-to-back Asian titles since city rivals Al Ittihad in 2005.<\/p>\n<p>Machida coach Go Kuroda said, &#8220;I&#8217;m very happy to have advanced to the finals.&#8221; &#8220;Al Ahly is a team with experience in the championship, they conceded goals in difficult situations and were unable to get back into the game.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The messy final reflected problems throughout the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>All matches from the quarter-finals onwards were played in Jeddah, with just 395 spectators attending Machida&#8217;s semi-final victory over Shabab Al Ahli (United Arab Emirates).<\/p>\n<p>Due to the Middle East war, the round of 16 matches in West Asia were postponed from March to April and shortened from two matches to one.<\/p>\n<p>There were doubts as to whether the East Asian team would travel to Saudi Arabia for the final tournament, but Tokyo-based Machida, who had never won the J1 League, made history for the club.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/acl-elite-final-alahli-machida-7c6d5e18387112d9560a29162ab2f0f1\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) \u2014 Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Al Ahly successfully defended their AFC Champions League Elite title on Saturday by defeating first-time finalist Machida Zelbia of Japan 1-0. In front of a crowd of 60,000 mostly Al Ahly fans in Jeddah, it took an extra-time goal from Saudi international striker Firas Al Burikan to settle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-31617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Al Ahly defended their AFC Champions League Elite title by defeating Machida Zelvia in extra time - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/25\/al-ahly-defended-their-afc-champions-league-elite-title-by-defeating-machida-zelvia-in-extra-time\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Al Ahly defended their AFC Champions League Elite title by defeating Machida Zelvia in extra time - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) \u2014 Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Al Ahly successfully defended their AFC Champions League Elite title on Saturday by defeating first-time finalist Machida Zelbia of Japan 1-0. 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