Machida Zelvia beat Shabab Al-Ahli 1-0 in stoppage time in the AFC Champions League semi-finals after a late Guilherme Bala equaliser was overturned by VAR, leaving Shabab Al-Ahli coach Paulo Sousa furious.
Bala’s strike was initially given and celebrated, only for video review to rule play had been restarted with a throw-in while Machida were still making a substitution. The VAR decision stood and Machida’s 1-0 lead held, sending the Japanese side through to the final.
Souza — Paulo Sousa — confronted the outcome immediately. He accused the referee of a clear error, saying: "There was a goal that was scored and then it was cancelled - this is a very technical mistake by the referee" and adding: "Unfortunately this is what is turning football into rubble. It was a big mistake to choose this referee for this match." He finished his remarks by insisting: "We deserved to be in the final and we deserve to play this important game."
The final whistle did not end the confrontation. Shabab Al-Ahli players surrounded the referee after the decision. Sousa stormed down the tunnel before the game had finished. After the match, Hamad Al-Meqbaali was sent off and Shaun Evans was escorted off the pitch by police at full-time.
The result sends Machida Zelvia into the AFC Champions League final on 25 April, where they will face Al-Ahli. Machida reach the continental showpiece in their competition debut, an extraordinary first-time run capped by the controversial semi-final victory.
Al-Ahli reached the final after beating Vissel Kobe in Jeddah, with Galeno scoring the winner in that last-four tie. Al-Ahli are the reigning champions, having won the competition in 2024 against Kawasaki Frontale, and they will attempt to become the first team in more than two decades to win back-to-back continental titles. The last club to achieve consecutive Asian crowns was Al Ittihad in 2004 and 2005.
The context of the final sharpens the stakes. The match will be played in Jeddah, and Al-Ahli have used home support under the centralised finals format. Machida’s passage as debutants sets up a clear narrative: an untested challenger against the defending champions chasing rare back-to-back glory.
The seam of the story is the contradiction between what happened on the pitch in the immediate moments after Bala’s strike and the interpretation applied after review. The throw-in and substitution detail that triggered the reversal is technical, but it produced a result that left players and staff in open dispute and a coach accusing match officials of wrecking the outcome.
The fallout was immediate and visible: players confronting the referee, a coach leaving early in protest, a player sent off after the final whistle and another escorted from the field by police. Those scenes will carry into the build-up for the final on 25 April, giving Machida an historic place in the final but leaving Shabab Al-Ahli and their supporters aggrieved.
On balance, the facts are plain: the VAR review overturned a goal because play had been restarted with a throw-in while a substitution was pending, and Machida advance 1-0. Sousa’s words — that his team deserved the final and that the referee made a technical mistake — close the night in Jeddah with a clear human verdict. What remains is whether the controversy will shape the narrative and atmosphere around the final on 25 April, when Machida Zelvia meet Al-Ahli for the continental crown.
