Al Ain tasked with halting Al Hilal juggernaut in Asian Champions League semi-finals

Can anyone stop Al Hilal?

It’s a conundrum that’s confounded the Saudi side's past 34 opponents, dating all the way back to September, spanning five countries and four separate competitions.

When they reached 28 wins, it was an apparent world record, recognised by Guinness. Hilal have since surpassed that mark, last week’s 2-0 win in the Saudi Super Cup final against Al Ittihad in Abu Dhabi lifting them to 34 consecutive victories.

The Riyadh side sit as champions-elect in the Saudi Pro League, unbeaten thus far and 12 points clear with seven rounds remaining. Later this month, they contest the semi-finals of the coveted King’s Cup.

Across the next eight days, Hilal will aim to tee up a second successive Asian Champions League final, when they take on Al Ain across two legs in the last four. Hilal stand as record champions of the continent, with four titles. Runners-up last year, they triumphed in two of the previous three finals.

So that’s what faces Al Ain ahead of Tuesday’s first leg in the Garden City. They are fighting both the present and the very recent past.

Yet the UAE side have pedigree, too, in Asian football’s premier club competition. They remain the only Emirati team to lift the trophy, even if that came more than two decades ago. Al Ain are one of only two from the country to contest a Champions League final; the most recent, in 2016, was their third appearance in the showpiece.

While not quite as impressive as Hilal, Hernan Crespo’s men had embarked on their own remarkable run from December, rattling off 11 wins and a draw from a 12-match stretch. The sequence included the upset victory in the Champions League quarter-final against Al Nassr, Hilal’s Riyadh rivals and closest challengers in the 2023/24