Photo: Wikimedia Commons (free licence), cropped and styled by SportNestra — author and licence
Watkins scored his first AFC Champions League Elite goal in his first appearance in the competition for Al-Hilal. The English forward joined from Aston Villa during the most recent summer transfer window and made his first mark in Asian football in the club’s colours.
That milestone came on Tuesday, when Al-Hilal travelled to take on Al-Sadd at Jassim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha. The match was part of the second round of the AFC Champions League Elite league phase. Watkins opened his account in the tournament as soon as he made his competition debut, having missed the club’s first fixture.
The 31-year-old was unavailable for Al-Hilal’s opening match in this edition because of an injury. The team won that game 2-1 against Al-Gharafa. His absence from that victory meant the trip to Doha was his first chance to feature in the competition this season. He has now scored in the tournament for the first time, doing so in his debut appearance for Al-Hilal.
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