Streaks and records in sports are meant to be created and broken. This was demonstrated by
Al Hilal
, who with a
super team
and a renowned coach achieved a Guinness record that is difficult to break,
34 consecutive victories
, in the same season. Al Hilal's victories were in official tournaments and were divided as follows: 16 for the Arab League, 9 for the Asian Champions and 3 for the King's Cup of Saudi Arabia.
But one day, like every streak, it ended.
This Tuesday, the team led by the Portuguese Jorge Jesús fell to Al Ain,
led by Hernán Crespo
, in the first leg of the semifinals of the Asian Champions League by 4-2 and in this way said goodbye to a historic streak. The Emirati team had also defeated the powerful Al Nassr of Sadio Mané and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Guinness record that Al Hilal had surpassed was 28 consecutive wins owned by
The New Saints of Wales
. But Jorge Jesús's team pulverized him when they beat Marcelo Gallardo's Al Ittihad 2-0 a few weeks ago. The Portuguese coach's fifth victory over Muñeco in five matches: the 2019 Libertadores final when the European led Flamengo and beat River 2-1 in Lima, and the other four in Saudi Arabia.
The milestone achieved by Al Hilal is framed within the economic injection of the Kingdom of Arabia for the 'Vision 2030' project, which seeks to achieve the largest sporting events in the world. The records of
Al-Za'eem
, as the institution is nicknamed, reinforce the bet of Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman and the current leader of the Saudi league became the club with the most consecutive victories in football.
For this match,
Al Hilal could not count on its stars
. Goalkeeper Yassine Bono and Brazilian Renan Lodi could not participate due to the competition's registration rules, which allow a maximum of five foreigners to play, in addition to a player from another Asian country. The one they especially missed was the Moroccan goalkeeper, who is known for being a specialist in penalties and who could have done something more against the three that Al Ain had in the game.
In turn, Al Hilal not only lost its streak of consecutive victories, but its participation in the final of the competition is in jeopardy due to the result that must be reversed next Tuesday, April 23, when the return of this key is played.