Ahli beat Al-Ittihad 4-2 following a penalty shootout to clinch the King's Cup of Champions at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium here Friday. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, awarded the trophy to Al-Ahli captain Mohammed Musa'ad. He also awarded Ahli players with gold medals and the team a cash prize of SR4 million. Both the teams failed to score either in regulation time or in extra-time. In the shootout, Ittihad players missed the first and third penalties to hand the trophy to city-rival. Ittihad players received silver medals and a cash prize of SR2.5 million, while Hilal, which finished third after defeating Al-Wehdah 6-3 in Riyadh Thursday, was awarded bronze medals and a SR1.5 million cash prize. The victory also handed Ahli the opportunity to represent Saudi Arabia in next season's Asian Champions League alongside Al-Hilal, winner of the Premier League; Ittihad, league runner-up; and Al-Ittifaq, second runner-up. Marcinho da Silva, Jufain Al-Bishi, Nikola Petkovic and Simoes Victor scored from the sport for Ahli, while Mansoor Al-Harbi kicked wide. Rashid Al-Raheeb and skipper Mohammed Noor found the net for Ittihad as Osama Al-Muallad and Saud Kariri missed their kicks. Ahli started the match attacking from the right flank where its Omani striker Emad Al-Hosani made the first serious attempt in the sixth minute, when he managed to enter the Tigers' danger zone but was denied by Ittihad keeper Mabrouk Za'id. Ahli lost another chance three minutes later when a close range kick by Brazilian Victor Simoes went wide. Ittihad strikers hardly posed a threat to their rivals. In fact its star striker Mohammed Al-Rashid was rarely seen with the ball. Ahli completely dominated the first half but missed a number of chances, one of which came in the 33rd minute when Za'id made a perfect save on the goalline on a header from Brazilian Marcinho Da Silva. More than 16,900 fans attended the match.
