Al Ain will go into the second leg of their AFC Champions League Round-of-16 clash against Esteghlal next week with plenty to do after a last-gasp penalty condemned their 10 men to an unlucky 1-0 defeat in Iran.
Striker Kaveh Rezaei kept his cool to slot home the only goal of the game deep into stoppage time after substitute and UAE international Mohamed Ahmed, playing in his first continental game of the season after returning from a serious knee injury, handled the ball.
It capped a dismal end to the game after Al Ain youngster Saeed Juma was sent off with 13 minutes left. The 18-year-old centre-back was given a straight red by referee Fu Ming following his two-footed challenge on Mohsen Karimi.
It means that The Boss, who missed out on domestic qualification to the 2018 competition after their fourth-placed finish in the Arabian Gulf League, have it all to do when they host the Iranian side next Monday.
The result, which was Al Ain’s first loss in seven matches in this round, will be hard to swallow for Zoran Mamic’s men, especially after they had kept the hosts at bay early on at the daunting Azadi Stadium in Tehran.
The stats at half-time pretty much summed up the first 45 minutes, with both sides registering just one shot on target.
Neither team were clinical in front of goal, with Caio for the Boss one of the players to be wasteful.
Omar Abdulrahman shot wide early in the second half, but Esteghlal were finally rewarded for their possession through Rezaei’s strike.
