AFC Champions League gets finale fitting of fundamentally flawed tournament | John Duerden

Al-Ahli won for the second successive year, but few outside Jeddah will remember proceedings fondly

As far as head-butts in major finals go, it wasn’t quite Zinedine Zidane in 2006, but Zakaria Hawsawi’s lunge forwards in Saturday’s AFC Champions League Elite final connected with Tete Yengi’s jaw and dropped the stunned Australian, almost a foot taller, to the ground.

With the score 0-0 between Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli and Machida Zelvia of Japan midway through the second half, it all took place on the touchline of the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, right in front of the referee and the shocked Al-Ahli fans who feared their team’s chances of a second successive continental title had gone.