“The players performed brilliantly and executed the plan perfectly,” said Belmadi. “I congratulate the players on the victory and the performance.

“Saudi clubs are big and play at a high level. When you face them, you want to win. Saudi teams are strong, they have high-calibre players, and they have a strong league.

“They can play with nine high-level players, and playing against them is a great challenge to win. You need a lot against them.”

Conceicao was left counting the cost of the defeat as Al Ittihad shipped four goals, as many as they did in the previous four matches.

Karim Benzema’s brace was too late to spark a comeback after Al Ittihad left themselves with a mountain to climb following Krzysztof Piatek’s strike to make it 4-0 in the 74th minute.

“To summarise what happened today, any football team plays with attacking and defensive transitions,” said Conceicao. “Our attacking response was aimed at winning, but our defensive response was lacking."

“The substitutions we made were timely; making them earlier wouldn't have changed the outcome. We had a plan, but we didn't implement it.

“When I bring in new players, I want to change the team's mindset. I ask the fans to forgive us for what happened today.”

Al Duhail face a challenging tie against unbeaten Tractor SC of Islamic Republic of Iran on December 22 with Al Ittihad looking to rebound at home against Uzbekistan’s PFC Nasaf a day later.