Romanian Lucescu said Al Hilal created many chances and deserved the win which set up a semi-final clash with South American champions Flamengo on Tuesday.

“We deserved this victory as we controlled the ball more and we created many scoring chances,” said Lucescu. “We managed to take advantage of the spaces to score the winning goal.

“It feels good that we are now among the best four teams in the world and we feel proud,” he added. “We had great success because of our continuous work and great enthusiasm."

“Despite the absence of Gomis and (Sebastian) Giovinco, we managed to put a good performance,” said Lucescu. “Gomis is one of the best players that we have and he has great experience and enthusiasm.

“I’m happy that he managed to score directly after recovering from his injury.

“We expect a tough match against Flamengo but all the matches in this competition are hard. Flamengo might be tough but we are capable (of matching them)."

Esperance head coach Moine Chaabani said his team faced opponents who knew how to win the match.

“We had a good match and we knew that Al Hilal have an excellent team and players who are capable of creating danger, especially in the last metres of the pitch,” said Chaabani.

“The match was tactical as there was only one goal and there were not many scoring chances,” he added. “We had some chances but we failed to take advantage of them.”

The 38-year-old coach said Asian teams have the upper hand against African sides and that was clear in the FIFA Club World Cup.

“Asian teams have better capabilities and they have a chance to sign special players, especially forwards. Asian teams have won nine out of 11 matches against African teams (in the FIFA Club World Cup) and this shows the big difference.”

Photos: FIFA via Getty Images