"It was a good match, we controlled most of it, and we had chances to increase the goals in the first half but we did not take advantage of them but in the second half we managed to do so,” said Jesus.

"We gave several players the opportunity to play, and we achieved our goal of winning. We have one match left before the break, we want to end it with a win.”

“After that a group of our players will join the Saudi national team to participate in the Gulf Cup, and this will help us because the players will be able to keep their match fitness, and I wish the Saudi national team success and that it returns with the title.”

Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic came off the bench in the second half to score, giving Al Hilal their fifth win of the campaign and a return to the top of the West Zone standings.

Al Gharafa head coach Pedro Rui Martins admitted that his Qatari side were not at the same level as Al Hilal on the day but with their qualification chances not completely closed, is looking for improvement in the remaining two matches.

"I congratulate Al Hilal on the victory, they were the better team during the match, and they are considered one of the best teams on the continent,” said Martins. “After conceding the first goal, we were unable to find the required balance, and our goalkeeper succeeded in stopping many chances and contributed to delaying the second goal.

"We lacked the required aggression in the match, and the pace and level was difficult due to the presence of young players in our team, in addition to the return of some players from injury, but we will continue to work to address the mistakes.”