Vissel Kobe have arguably been the dominant force of Japanese football in recent times.
They won back-to-back J1 League titles in 2023 and 2024, along with an Emperor's Cup in the latter year, before surrending their crown to Kashima Antlers last year.
Considering the J1 League is arguably the strongest domestic competition in all of Asia, their best sides are normally expected to contend for continental glory.
The furthest Vissel previously reached in the AFC Champions League Elite -- Asian football's premier club competition -- was the semifinals back in 2020.
And, as of Monday, that remains their best finish -- at least until the next campaign -- after they suffered a 2-1 loss to defending champions Al Ahli at King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in the first of this season's last-four encounters.
An evening that started so brightly for Vissel, who took the lead through Yoshinori Muto's close-range finish in the 31st minute, was turned on its head as Al Ahli -- for the second consecutive game -- came from behind to win thanks to second-half strikes by Galeno and Ivan Toney.
With their passage into Saturday's final secured, Al Ahli remain on course to successfully defend their continental crown and become only the second club -- after compatriots Al Ittihad -- to win back-to-back titles in the ACL era.
Yet, based on the first half of Monday's tie alone, Al Ahli would probably have been preparing to relinquish their status as champions of Asia.
In their defence, it was only three days before that they survived playing with a numerical deficit for over 50 minutes to pull off a similarly-stirring revival in their quarterfinal win over Johor Darul Ta'zim.
Nonetheless, Vissel -- who played a day earlier -- had required extra-time and penalties to see off Al Sadd, meaning any use of fatigue as an excuse was effectively cancelled out.
Despite the majority of the 44,716 in attendance turning out in support of Al Ahli, with the centralised ACL Elite finals hosted in their home city of Jeddah, Vissel were undeterred and showed the greater initiative in the opening exchanges.
Still, it was Al Ahli who had the first meaningful effort on target in the 26th minute when an enterprising run down the left by Zakaria Hawsawi saw him set up Franck Kessié, whose speculative effort from outside the area took a deflection and forced Vissel goalkeeper Daiya Maekawa into a good reflex save down low.
But five minutes later, Vissel's early endeavour reaped rewards with a perfectly-executed set-piece straight from the training ground.
Having somehow been allowed to run onto Katsuya Nagato's right-wing freekick completely unopposed -- most would have expected Yuya Osako to send a headed attempt towards goal but, instead, he seemed to know that Muto would be to his right and unselfishly nodded it on into his teammate's path without ever taking his eyes off the ball.
True enough, Muto had also timed his run to perfection to beat the Al Ahli offside trap in tandem with Osako and -- with just enough time and space -- made no mistake in dispatching a low shot past the onrushing Édouard Mendy.
If Al Ahli had already looked frazzled up to that point, they were now rattled. And it hardly helped that their supporters were also getting increasingly restless.
And the nerves Al Ahli were showing almost gifted Vissel a second in the 43rd minute.
A long ball played out from the Vissel backline looked harmless until Roger Ibañez rushed forward to make an interception but failed to make any connection.
In a flash, Daiju Sasaki pounced and it looked like he might race through but -- with the ball refusing to sit kindly for him and a couple of desperately-retreating opponents in attendance -- he was only able to rush a midair cushioned effort that was meek and straight at Mendy.
Then, the first real sign of life from Al Ahli came just before the break. From a freekick on the edge of the box, Galeno's decision to cross rather than go for goal almost paid dividends as a late run from Rayan Hamed was totally missed by the Vissel defence -- only for the defender to send a bullet header off the woodwork.
If that had been a pulse, then whatever Al Ahli coach Matthias Jaissle said to his charges at halftime provided the full resuscitation.
The moment the whistle to start the second 45 sounded, Al Ahli looked a completely different side. Just two minutes in, another similar situation saw Ibañez flash a header dangerous across the face of goal from an Enzo Millot delivery.
Al Ahli then looked to have equalised in the 50th minute after a clever early ball by Mahrez from deep inside his own half caught Vissel napping and sent Toney racing through -- where he showed excellent strength to hold off Tetsushi Yamakawa before calmly slotting past Maekawa.
The stadium erupted, only for the celebrations to be cut short abruptly as VAR came to Vissel's rescue. It was a tight call -- but a correct decision.
It was now Vissel's turn to look like they were genuinely feeling the heat. Yet, four minutes later, they had another excellent chance to give themselves some insurance.
A rare mistake from Kessié, as he messed up an acrobatic over-the-shoulder clearance only to poke the ball towards his own area, was pounced on by Makoto Mitsuta -- who advanced down the right before cutting a pass back to a waiting Sasaki.
Where he previously could not get enough purchase on his effort in the first half, this time he got too much -- especially considering his relative proximity to goal. A ferocious piledriver had Mendy beaten all ends up only to come crashing back off the bar.
There was still only a solitary goal in it.
And finally, two minutes after the hour mark, Al Ahli's equaliser arrived.
For all the star names Al Ahli boast, perhaps the one that does not get mentioned enough is Galeno. Maybe it is just because, unlike Mahrez, Toney or Kessié, he has never played in one of Europe's top five leagues.
Still, it can be argued that Porto are a far bigger club than many teams in those competitions -- and he did hit double-digit goals for the Portuguese giants in three consecutive seasons before joining Al Ahli.
Against JDT, he had been the architect of Al Ahli's comeback -- assisting Kessié's equaliser from a corner before netting the winner with a stunning 25-yard effort.
As the final 30 minutes or so of Monday's contest would prove, he would again be the catalyst. And, if it was even possible, he surpassed his strike against JDT.
After an initial header from Ibañez had forced Maekawa into a fine save, Al Ahli recycled possession back out to the wing -- where Mahrez and Millot combined to pick out a waiting Galeno outside the area.
There was nothing really on but, with one thunderous swing of his right foot, the Brazilian unleashed an absolute scorcher from 30 yards that no goalkeeper would have stopped.
Yet, as Galeno showed against JDT, his game is equally about assisting as it is scoring. In the 71st minute, as he switched back to becoming a creator, Al Ahli completed the turnaround.
It was a sorry moment for Maekawa, and a harsh fate to befall someone who had only four days ago played a crucial role in getting Vissel to this moment with three outstanding extra-time saves against Al Sadd.
But, even if there had been plenty of spin on Galeno's dangerous cross, the experienced Vissel custodian should still have done better than to completely flap at it -- only succeeding in palming the ball into the path of Toney, who reacted briliantly to get away an improvised first-time volley on the sidefoot which just squeezed past two recovering opponents on the line.
Four minutes later, the game could have been dead and buried when Maekawa's rushed clearance went straight to Galeno, who immediately lofted a glorious 35-yard pass back in the other direction to pick out Mahrez.
Unfortunately for the former Manchester City star, he had the same luck as Toney earlier as he had just strayed offside after finding the bottom corner with the most-casual of finishes on his non-preferred right foot.
Vissel were surviving, only just.
Their problem was that they just could not get anything meaningful going. Even with ten minutes still remaining, they looked deflated and bereft of ideas, struggling to keep possession or even string more than three passes together.
In the end, like it was six years ago, they would come up just short.
And, as it was just 12 months earlier, Al Ahli are now one win away from becoming champions of Asia. Again.
