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Western Sydney Wanderers win Asian Champions League after defeating Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal 1-0 on aggregate
Wanderers are first Australian side to win Asia's premier club competition
Just 14 Wanderers fans were granted visas to attend the game by Saudi Authorities
Western Sydney Wanderers became the first Australian club to win the Asian Champions League after a goalless draw away to Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal ensured a closely fought 1-0 aggregate victory in the tournament final Saturday.
A heroic defensive display and some favorable refereeing ensured striker Tom Juric’s goal in last week’s first leg at the Parramatta Stadium in Sydney was enough to claim the continent’s most coveted club prize.
Wanderers can now look forward to the FIFA World Club Championships in Morocco next month where they could come up against the likes of Real Madrid or San Lorenzo, current champions of Europe and South America’s leading club competitions respectively.
The unlikely triumph is all the more remarkable given that the Wanderers were only founded in 2012 and were playing in continental competition for the first time.
Only 14 Wanderers fans were given visas to attend the game in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, which was played in front of a highly partisan crowd in the King Fahd Stadium.
“The game was everything you expect from a final,” explained a delighted Wanderers coach and former Mark Popovic in quotes carried by the Asian Football Confederation website after the match.
“It is still a little surreal for me as a coach. I am sure it will hit home in the next few days when we reflect.
“I am just proud for these players and our club. The first time in the competition, to win it, I think in the future we will really understand how special this run has been and how it was to win this title.
Popovic’s side have earned a reputation as a mean defensive unit over the course of the competition.
Golakeeper Ante Covic was named the player of the tournament after the match and produced a series of spectacular saves in both legs of the final to keep the vastly more experienced Al Hilal at bay.
But the keeper was extremely lucky not to give away a penalty midway through the second half when he cleaned out Al Hilal striker Salman al-Faraj in the box.
Fortunately for Covic, the Japanese referee didn’t point to the spot despite the protestations of incredulous Al Hilal players.
Al Hilal’s Romanian coach, Laurentiu Reghecampf, lamented the decision from the sidelines but later described being more disappointed by the fact his team were not able to make the most of their chances over both legs.
“We had bad luck and we had many chances,” Reghecampf said. “We were the best team over the two games.”
“If you lose one game when you play bad, you can congratulate the other team. But when you play how we played and they play how they played, we feel very bad.”
“We had a lot of chances but we missed them. If the ball does not come to our strikers they cannot score and that’s why we have to find a balance between attack and defense.”