Just when it looked like Asian football might have a FIFA Club World Cup to forget, after Urawa Red Diamonds and Ulsan HD both fell to opening defeats on Tuesday, up stepped Al Hilal.
Arguably facing the toughest test of all, after their continental counterparts lost to Argentine and South African opponents in the form of River Plate and Mamelodi Sundowns respectively, Al Hilal ensured they would at least have a point to show for their efforts on Wednesday as they began their Group H campaign with a 1-1 draw — against the mighty Real Madrid, no less.
The Saudi Pro League outfit certainly survived a close shave — with goalkeeper Yassine Bounou producing a crucial save in stoppage time to keep out a Federico Valverde penalty — but few would argue that they were not good value for the draw, especially considering they narrowly lost out in the possession stakes with 47.9% of the ball, and would even have matched Real for efforts on goal if not for an onslaught by the European giants in the final ten minutes.
Granted, it would be inaccurate to say this was a Real side at full strength.
Emerging prospects such as Raúl Asencio and Gonzalo GarcÃa were handed a starting berth, but there were also debuts for big-name signings Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen, while the likes of Jude Bellingham, VinÃcius Júnior, Rodrygo, Thibaut Courtois, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Valverde all featured from the opening whistle.
On the other hand, it must be noted that — given the recent big-spending ways of the SPL’s leading sides — Al Hilal sent out a lineup with no shortage of prominent names, including João Cancelo, Rúben Neves, Malcom and Sergej Milinković-Savić, but there was also local representation in the form of Salem Al-Dawsari, Nasser Al-Dawsari and Hassan Al-Tambakti.
Given the way Urawa and Ulsan were defeated convincingly a day ago, it was easy to assume that Al Hilal would suffer the same fate coming up against even stronger opposition — a notion that would only have been strengthened further when Real broke the deadlock in the 34th minute.
After winning possession near the halfway line, a sweeping counterattack would see 21-year-old GarcÃa repay new coach Xabi Alonso’s faith in him as he applied the finishing touches — albeit with a finish that was hardly the most convincing — to a pinpoint cross by Rodrygo.
But just five minutes later, Al Hilal were handed a golden opportunity to equalize when Marcos Leonardo refused to give up on a hopeful ball punted forward and eventually won possession inside the opposition area — only to be dragged down by a desperate Asencio.
No stranger to immense pressure given his previous experience in the Premier League with Wolves, as well as on the international stage with Portugal, Neves was hardly perturbed by all 62,415 pairs of eyes on him at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium as he calmly sent Courtois the wrong way from the spot.
It seemed a mere formality that Real, stung from conceding an equaliser, would regroup and eventually reclaim the lead yet it never really looked like coming after the break.
Even when Lucas Vázquez, Brahim DÃaz, Arda Güler and eventually Luka Modrić were introduced, nothing got past Al Hilal’s indomitable centre-back partnership of Al-Tambakti and Kalidou Koulibaly.
Nonetheless, as the clock ticked over into the 90th minute, it seemed as though a reprieve had arrived for Real — in slightly dubious circumstances.
As he chased down a loose ball inside his own area, Mohammed Al-Qahtani swung out a stray arm that caught Fran GarcÃa right in the face.
It could even have been deemed as an off-the-ball incident and, in other occasions, it might have been waved away.
Still, there have also been instances where such an action was deemed a foul and, upon VAR review, this was one of those.
Alonso, undoubtedly eager to get his reign off to a winning start, cut a nervous finger sitting at the corner of the Real bench. In truth, he probably would have sat a little more comfortably seeing a player of Valverde’s ilk step up to the spot.
But Bounou is no stranger to penalty heroics, especially when facing Spanish opposition. After all, it was his two saves in the shootout against Spain which helped Morocco reach the quarterfinals of the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 2022.
And, as he guessed correctly to dive to his right and thwart Valverde’s attempt, a remarkable draw for Al Hilal was effectively secured.
One that gave Asian football something to smile about after a trying start to the Club World Cup.
And one which saw Al Hilal issue a real statement of intent with games, especially now that their toughest test is out of the way, with games against Red Bull Salzburg and Pachuca to follow.
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