Jorge Jesus, Al Hilal’s coach, surprised everyone with a sudden decision to exclude his team’s main goalkeeper, Yassine Bounou, and rely on Mohammed Al Owais in the Al Ain match.
The Blue Wave will meet the Emirati club at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Wednesday in the first leg of the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League.
The AFC regulations stipulate that only 5 foreign players participate, and the number can increase to 6 players provided that there is at least one Asian player.
According to Al-Riyadiah newspaper, Jesus saw that he needed foreign players in positions other than goalkeeping, and he preferred to rely on the Saudi goalkeeper Al-Owais.
The Portuguese coach started with Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves, Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Michel Delgado and Malcom, and Bono was excluded from the list for purely technical reasons.
It seems that Jesus’ decision was not optimal, as the substitute goalkeeper Al Owais played a not good game at all and was awarded a penalty kick in the first half, which ended 3-0 for Al Ain.
