Wanderers' ACL victory marred by spitting incident

The Western Sydney Wanderers' historic Asian Champions League victory has been marred by ugly scenes following the full-time whistle.

A 0-0 draw against Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal was enough to give Tony Popovic’s side a famous victory in front of a boisterous crowd at King Fahd Stadium.

The scoreless draw meant the Wanderers won 1-0 on aggregate, much to the dismay of the Al-Hilal players.

The players’ frustration boiled over as the final whistle sounded, with forward Nasser Al-Shamrani spitting at a Wanderers player.

Wanderers defender Matthew Spiranovic also appeared to be headbutted, while goalkeeper Ante Kovic had lasers shined in his eyes all night long.

While Western Sydney deserve great credit for their defensive resilience, it was hard to make a case to wave away two penalty decisions either side of halftime.

When Antony Golec stretched and found Nawaf Al-Abid rather than the ball, it seemed the roaring crowd would have their penalty.

But the decision didn't come, incensing Al-Hilal boss Laurentiu Reghecampf.

Japanese referee Nishimura Yuichi again kept his whistle from his lips on the hour when Covic clearly slid in on Salman Al Faraj.

The result felt like a robbery, with Covic and his defensive four standing tall to repel chance after chance.

On the last whistle, both the winners and defeated slumped on the ground, drained of all energy.

That quickly gave way to a release of frustration, with rivals involved in late fisticuffs.

Reghecampf bemoaned what he called bad luck.

"We were the best in the two games," he said through a translator.

"It's very difficult... I feel very bad."

The Wanderers' prize is over US$2 million in prizemoney and a place at the FIFA World Club Cup next month.