Al Wasl gave the Saudis an early scare at Zabeel Stadium, Caio Canedo exploiting the space behind the Al Hilal defence in the third minute only for his shot to hit the post. The rebound fell at the feet of Takashi Uchino, but the Japanese full back thumped his shot over the bar.

The home side hit the woodwork again three minutes later, Fabio Lima striking from distance but, while Mohammed Al Owais was beaten, the ball rebounded off the inside of the post before bouncing clear.

Al Wasl’s failure to take those opportunities was punished when Leonardo pounced to put Al Hilal in front.

Al Dawsari’s corner from the Al Hilal right was headed towards goal by Mohammed Kanno and, while Anas Zniti managed to block the midfielder’s initial effort, Leonardo tapped in on the goal line.

Zniti denied Al Hilal a second in the dying seconds of the half, the Moroccan pushing Kaio Cesar strike to his left for a corner while a marginal offside call rescued the hosts moments later when Kaio Cesar beat Zniti with a diving header.

Al Hilal kept coming forward, Leonardo thumping the crossbar in injury time before Al Owais survived a scare at the other end as Caio Canedo shot wildly over the bar with the goalkeeper in no man’s land.

The Saudi side’s second came four minutes after the restart when Al Dawsari led the charge towards the Al Wasl defence and, after slipping the ball out to Abdullah Al Hamddan, the Al Hilal captain received a return pass to coolly slot home.

Al Dawsari glanced a late header wide and Leonardo was denied by Zniti when he parried the Brazilian’s goal-bound shot as Al Hilal missed out on adding further to their tally in a professionally clinical performance.