SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — For much of the last decade, famous players such as James Rodriguez, Odion Ighalo and Santo Cazorla would have been expected to be playing in the Asian Champions League for cashed-up Chinese clubs. But ahead of Thursday’s kickoff, most of the big names are to be found in the western half of the continent.
After just one championship win from West Asian teams from 2005 to 2018, Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia has won two out of the last three continental titles and is the favorite once more especially as clubs from China, who spent big in the previous decade, are struggling financially.
“Al-Hilal is a great club with a history of winning trophies and is the Asian champion,” Ighalo, who arrived in Saudi Arabia in 2021 from Manchester United, said earlier this week. “There are great players here and this is a team that always wants to win at home and…
