As the inaugural AFC Champions League Elite Finals got underway this weekend, it hardly took long for the quarterfinals to evolve into a Saudi Arabian domination.
By the 33rd minute of Friday's meeting with Gwangju FC, Al Hilal were three goals up. They would finish with an emphatic 7-0 rout, boasting seven individual scorers which highlighted the sheer amount of quality at their disposal.
Al Ahli were the next Saudi Pro League side in action on Saturday. Similar to Al Hilal, Al Ahli were leading 3-0 by the half-hour mark. They did not add to their tally but they didn't need to.
Victory over Buriram United was never in doubt from that point.
Later that evening, more stars came out to play as Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mané and Jhon Durán were all on target in Al Nassr's convincing 4-1 win over Yokohama F. Marinos, who just happened to be last season's runners-up.
It meant Saudi Arabia, and the competition's West region, had three teams advancing into the semifinals.
There was a chance a fourth team from the West would complete a clean sweep on Sunday.
Kawasaki Frontale, however, had other ideas.
In what turned out to be the only really competitive last-eight tie, Kawasaki twice threw away a lead but ultimately held their nerve to claim a 3-2 extra-time triumph over Qatar's Al Sadd.
This meant that there was at least some pride restored for the East region, who have largely held the bragging rights over the West in the ACL Elite for the past two decades.
Although Emirati outfit Al Ain were last season's winners, teams from the East had been crowned champions of Asia in 14 of the previous 18 seasons dating back to 2006.
Kawasaki also wrote a new chapter in their history by seeing off Al Sadd as they reached the semis of Asian football's premier club competition for the first time, having fallen in the last eight on three previous occasions.
Yet, if they are to go on to claim a maiden continental title, the four-time J1 League champions will have plenty of work ahead of them.
Victory over Al Sadd has set up a semifinal against Al Nassr on Wednesday.
As if Ronaldo, Mané and Durán were not formidable enough, Al Nassr also have Croatia international Marcelo Brozović in their engine room while ex-Manchester City man Aymeric Laporte was even left in reserve in their victory over Marinos -- only coming on as a 67th-minute substitute with the result already beyond doubt.
In contrast, Kawasaki's first XI still primarily consists of local talent, with Brazilian duo Marcinho and Erison the only imports that started against Al Sadd.
In fact, out of the nine Japanese starters on Sunday, only Akihiro Ienaga can lay claim to having played in Europe, although ex-Hamburg man Tatsuya Ito previously plied his trade in Germany and Belgium and has been a handy option off the bench.
Even if Kawasaki somehow see off the challenge of Al Nassr, they will face a similarly daunting task in the final regardless of who their opponents are.
Given their capture of Neymar at the height of the SPL's initial boom, Al Hilal have arguably been the side in the spotlight the most.
While the Brazilian has since left the club, their list of star imports still includes João Cancelo, Rúben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrović, Kalidou Koulibaly and Sergej Milinković-Savić.
Al Ahli will hardly be an easier proposition.
Famous names such as Roberto Firmino and Riyad Mahrez were both on target against Buriram. Other prominent faces fighting leading the way for Al Ahli include Ivan Toney, Franck Kessié, Édouard Mendy and Roger Ibañez.
It is hardly a surprise that Saudi Arabia has emerged as the dominant force at the ACL Elite Finals.
From the perspective of the East region, at least Kawasaki are around to fly the flag and prevent an all-out domination by the West.
But for how long more can this resistance last? The outcome on Tuesday will decide whether that is simply a rhetorical question.