Al-ittihad has indeed won 2 consecutive victories at the beginning of this second half season. And well that is indeed a good development for this club which had slumped at the end of the first half of the season. But unfortunately Al-ittihad is already far behind in points from al-Nassr and Al-hilal in the SPL. So for Al-ittihad maybe they just have to fight harder in the AFC champions league. And fortunately Al-ittihad has managed to qualify from the round of 16 in the AFC Champion League. But well the real problem does arise in the quarter-finals because Al-ittihad must face the strongest opponent there, AL-hilal. And obviously it will be a difficult match for AL-ittihad. But that doesn't mean Al-ittihad doesn't have a chance. It's just that the chances of beating Al-hilal are quite small.
it seems this depends on whether Al Hilal will also chase the title in the AFC champions league?
the answer is of course that Al Hilal will try to get the title there because this very strong performance will be put to good use to get the title in the SPL and even in the AFC Champions League.
Ittihad has a very slim chance of beating Al Hilal, while we don't need to bother betting on the match between the two teams in the AFC competition because before the AFC Champions League match starts, these two teams will meet to compete for 3 points in the SPL and from these results we We can already predict how Ittihad will look, which will have difficulty beating Al Hilal.
I have never had bad thoughts about Ittihad but for this season it is very impossible for any team to beat Al Hilal unless this team makes a serious mistake in causing 1 defeat but for the time being Al Hilal remains the favorite.
There is no doubt that Al-hilal will indeed be the favorites in the match against al-ittihad. It's just the same as what you asked, whether Al-Hilal will target the AFC Champions League. And my answer may turn out to be not so sure. Yes, although I also think that any team will definitely try well in all competitions. But sometimes there are teams that can only focus on one competition, like Barcelona last season, who lost in the UCL and in the European League and only won in Laliga. Well, I think Al-hilal could do that, but most likely Al-hilal will try to make their unbeaten record longer. And maybe they can win lots of trophies this season.