Esperance de Tunis were the better side in the early minutes as they had the first chance of the night but Ibrahim Ouattara's attempt sailed over the bar on eight minutes and Anis Badri then saw his attempt just miss the mark.

Al Hilal gradually started to settle into the match and they had their first chance on 22 minutes when Salem Al Dawsari sent a neat pass to Carlos Eduardo who went inside the area but goalkeeper Moez Ben Cherifia was quick to react.

Al Hilal increased their dominance towards the end of the first half and they nearly took the lead in the final minute of the first half when Dawsari cut the ball back to Andre Carrillo, who came from behind and fired a stinger which was blocked by Cherifia before Mohamed Yakoubi cleared the danger.

Esperance went close in the 57th minute when Yassir Al Shahrani tried to clear the ball on the edge of the area but instead sent it towards the net but goalkeeper Muaiouf was alert to the danger.

Al Hilal eventually broke the deadlock on 73 minutes when second half substitute Gomis beat the offside trap and flicked the ball over Yakoubi before volleying a powerful shot into the bottom right corner.

Al Hilal were reduced to 10 men five minutes before the end as Mohamed Kanno received a second yellow card in the space of three minutes but the 2019 AFC Champions League winners held on to advance to the semi-finals.

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