Four-time winners Al Hilal booked their place in the AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals on Friday night with a thumping 7-0 win against South Korea's Gwangju in Jeddah.

The Saudi Arabian champions, who began the campaign with Brazil superstar Neymar in their ranks before his February return to Santos, romped to victory at King Abdullah Sports City, with 2022 Asian Footballer of the Year Salem Al-Dawsari the standout.

The quarter-final encounter kicked off the inaugural AFC Champions League Elite Finals, where the continent's top eight teams - four from West Asia, four from the East - compete in a centralised location for the trophy.

Al Hilal are one of three Saudi sides in the last eight, alongside Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr and Al Ahli, the home team who boast the likes of Riyad Mahrez and Ivan Toney.

Al Hilal underlined their credentials by cruising into the last four. They needed all of six minutes to take the lead, when former Lazio midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic met Al-Dawsari's corner to power home a header.

Al Hilal doubled their advantage on 25 minutes, Brazilian winger Malcom cutting the ball back for compatriot Marcos Leonardo. The summer signing from Benfica swept his finish past Kim Kyeong-Min in the Gwangju goal.

Eight minutes later, Leonardo sent Al-Dawsari through on goal, leaving the Saudi Arabia captain to race clear and slide a low shot into the net.

Al Dawsari moved to nine goals, making him the joint-top scorer in this season's tournament, alongside Gwangju's Albanian winger Jasir Asani.

The only drawback for Al Hilal was that Joao Cancelo, a treble-winner with Manchester City, was forced to leave the pitch shortly before half-time with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

Al Hilal maintained their dominance after the break, with Aleksander Mitrovic adding a fourth in the 55th minute.

The ex-Newcastle United and Fulham striker, who has missed a large portion of this season through injury, met fellow Serbian international Milinkovic-Savic's cross to side-foot home.

With 12 minutes remaining, Malcom exchanged passes with Mitrovic to slot past Kim for 5-0. Substitute Nasser Al-Dawsari made it six with a deflected effort from the edge of the penalty area.

Abdullah Al-Hamdan then rifled home from range following Mitrovic's set-up.

In next Tuesday's semi-final Al Hilal will meet either fellow Saudi club Al Ahli or Thailand's Buriram United. Those teams face off on Saturday, also at King Abdullah Sports City.

Meanwhile, Ronaldo resumes his quest for continental glory on Saturday, when Al Nassr take on last year's runners-up Yokohama F-Marinos at Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Sports City.

The Japanese side sacked ex-England assistant manager Steve Holland last week, with Australian Patrick Kisnorbo installed as interim head coach.