AFC Elite Champions League: Houssem Aouar makes history with Al-Ittihad | OneFootball

Houssem Aouar makes history with Al-Ittihad

Houssem Aouar/@L'Equipe

Al-Ittihad showed no mercy as they demolished Al-Gharafa 7-0 on Tuesday night in Matchday 7 of the AFC Elite Champions League. The driving force behind this emphatic victory was none other than Houssem Aouar.

The Algerian international (17 caps, 5 goals) delivered a sensational performance, netting a hat-trick (20th, 58th, and 79th minutes) and supplying an assist for Danilo Pereira to make it 4-0 in the 51st minute. This XXL display rightfully earned him the Man of the Match honors.

With his hat-trick, Aouar became just the fourth player in Al-Ittihad history to achieve such a feat in the AFC Champions League, following in the footsteps of Marzouk Al-Atibi (2004), Nayef Hazzazi (2009), and Mohamed Noor (2009).

According to stats specialists Opta, the 27-year-old midfielder is also the first Al-Ittihad player from Jeddah to be involved in four goals in a single match since 2013.

A late omission from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, replaced by Himad Abdelli, the former Lyon star now hopes to be included in Vladimir Petkovic’s squad for the 2026 World Cup.