Ryan Babel put a difficult beginning to life in the UAE behind him with a scintillating man-of-the-match performance as champions Al Ain beat Sharjah 2-1 on Monday.
Despite the narrow margin of victory, the Boss dominated to earn their third-straight Arabian Gulf League win.
The former Ajax and Liverpool forward dazzled at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, putting in a virtuoso performance to net his first top-flight goal since his summer move from Turkey’s Kasimpasa and also provide an assist for Rashed Essa.
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“It’s different from Babel playing at Liverpool, before and now,” Babel said after the game.
“When I used to play with Liverpool I was only 20, now I’m 28. It’s a different league and a different culture from England and the UAE – you can’t compare the two leagues.”
Wherever Babel has gone in his career, controversy has never been too far behind.
In August he became embroiled in a sexism row on Twitter after questioning the validity of women being able to comment on football, telling one female adversary on the social media site he was “not gonna argue with a girl about football”.
Babel has also struggled to adapt to the energy-sapping UAE heat during his early weeks and was singled out for criticism by coach Zlatko Dalic after the Boss’ 4-2 Arabian Gulf Super Cup-win against Al Nasr last month.
Whether or not Babel had been feeling the heat in more ways than one, it was clear his goal came as a relief as he sunk to one knee and pumped his first after scoring.
Babel’s wonderful sixth-minute cross from the left flank was inch perfect for Rashed Essa to put Al Ain 1-0 ahead, but better was to come.
He started and finished the move which led to the reigning AGL champions’ second goal, playing a one-two with left-back Mohammed Fayez before letting the return ball cross onto his right foot, his fierce drive giving Mohamed Yousif in the Sharjah goal no chance.
The man capped 43 times by the Netherlands insisted there is more to come, too.
“My individual performance doesn’t concern me, it is about the team,” he added. “But I am in a new league and I have to adapt and have to settle.
“From now, I’m going to show all my performances and all my good effort for my team in each match in order to earn three points for the team.”
