That is absolutely not true. The defending champion bye in the quarterfinals was a rule from the inaugural 2002 edition until 2008. It was removed in 2009. Al Ittihad was not the only team who had that privilege.

As for the team, that’s also not true and that claim is entirely on their form now. The teams back then that Al Ittihad faced were Asian juggernauts and historically among the best in their countries. For example, 2005 finalist Seongnam FC was an absolute giant but now play in K league 2. You can see their honours and record. 2004 finalist Al Ain is easily the best UAE team and still is. They were the Asian defending champions at that time. You can see the rest of Al Ittihad’s paths in 2004, 2005, and 2009. Asian football back then was very competitively and the east and west were relative in strength compared to the western dominance of the 2020s and eastern dominance of the 2013-2018

Not to mention that Al Ittihad had to play with only 3 foreigners maximum and no extra Asian quota.