Damir Krznar felt Al Ain had fortune on their side as Mohamed Ahmed’s superb late goal earned a 1-0 win in the top of the table clash with Al Wahda.
Al Clasico is one of the most famous rivalries in the UAE and it certainly lived up to expectation, with 10,958 fans packed into Al Nahyan Stadium on Saturday night and providing a boisterous atmosphere.
In a tense battle on the field, it always felt like something special would be required to win it, and so it proved. UAE international right-back Ahmed cut out a sloppy cross-field pass from Mourad Batna with eight minutes to go and ran 70 yards before stylishly slotting home the winner past Clarets stopper Mohamed Al Shamsi with his left-foot.
Wahda right-back Mohamed Al Menhali had an opportunity to imitate Ahmed but his late effort crashed off the underside of the crossbar as the Boss held on amid intense late home pressure.
Al Ain assistant Krznar felt the result could have gone either way.
“I think this match was a real derby, a Clasico like you want to say,” said Krznar, the former Dinamo Zagreb and once-capped Croatia left-back.
“I think Al Ain scored because we were maybe a little bit luckier. It could have been 0-0, Wahda could have won. We had luck today, sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t.
“By lucky I also mean we had good effort, good will, good strength. It was very similar from both sides. Today everything goes on our side, but of course it could have been different.”
Mohamed Ahmed
The visitors were without suspended strikers Marcus Berg and Douglas as well as UAE centre-back Mohanad Salem, while head coach Zoran Mamic had been banished to the stands for five matches following his outburst at the officials following last week’s 3-3 home draw with Sharjah.
Talisman Omar Abdulrhman featured, but it was his first game back after two months on the sidelines with an ankle injury.
But Krznar said the players have no problems motivating themselves for the big games.
“Our team and players never have a problem with the bigger games, we usually are not so good in the smaller games,” he said.
“We are always good in the derby matches and it was a good day for us. We know we missed three or four players. The result was primary, not the beauty of our play, but in the end we play nice and we win.”
