Seeking to win a fourth title, Al Hilal were evenly matched by Al Nassr until Salem Al Dawsari found the breakthrough in the 62nd minute, finishing off a Sergey Milinkovic-Savic pass.

Two Brazilians combined to help Al Hilal increase their lead 10 minutes later when Malcolm nodded in from a Michael cross from the right.

Al Nassr’s efforts to fight back were thwarted in the 86th minute when Cristiano Ronaldo was shown a straight red for violent conduct.

Former Bayern Munich and Liverpool forward Sadio Mane managed to pull one back for Al Nassr in stoppage time but it was too little too late to change the outcome.

The other semi-final saw Karim Benzema give Al Ittihad the perfect start when he struck within the first minute before Moroccan Abderazzak Hamdallah doubled their lead before half-time.

A late Hussein Al Eisa goal made it a nervous ending for Al Ittihad but the 2022 champions held on to book their berth in Thursday’s final.