Al Ain face gigantic task to progress in Asian Champions League

Denzil Pinto 00:40 09/05/2018
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  • Omar Abdulrahman wasn't at his best on Tuesday

    Al Ain face a momentous task of making the AFC Champions League quarter-finals after falling to 4-2 home defeat to Al Duhail in the first-leg of their Round of 16 tie.

    The Arabian Gulf League and President’s Cup winners were staring at a 4-0 scoreline when Youssef El-Arabi, Nam Tae-Hee, Ismail Mohammad and Almoez Ali netted with 55 minutes gone.

    But substitute Ahmed Khalil reduced the deficit later in the second half before Ibrahim Diaky added another for Al Ain late in the game.

    While those late goals will give them a slim hope in Doha, they will have to do without Brazilian winger Caio for next week’s second leg after he was given a straight red card in the dying minutes for kicking an opponent.

    Their cause isn’t helped by the fact that no team in the 2017/18 campaign has stopped Al Duhail this season with the Qatari league champions maintaining their 100 per cent record with seven consecutive wins in the competition.

    Prior to the game, Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic said his players did not fear their opposition, who became only the fourth side in the competition to win all their six group matches.

    But Al Ain struggled to find their tempo early on and were left needing to play catch-up after Al Duhail showed that fine form early on at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium with just 16 minutes on the clock.

    Khalid Essa denied Almoez but the striker found El-Arabi, who made no mistake to latch the ball home.

    Mamic’s side found it difficult to create opportunities with Marcus Berg, who has scored 35 goals in 36 appearances isolated up front. The Boss’ task got even more difficult, when their own corner resulted in Al Duhail taking a 2-0 lead going into half-time.

    On the counter-attack, Mohammed released the Tae-Hee and the South Korean nutmegged Ahmed Barman to burst clear before a clever finish.

    Whatever was said by Mamic in the dressing room didn’t do the trick as Al Duhail piled more misery with a third goal.

    Ismail Ahmed was the culprit with the centre-back punished for his poor touch just four minutes after the restart. His poor clearance allowed Al Duhail take advantage with Ismail Mohammad clipping the ball over Essa.

    With Omar Abdulrahman failing to produce the form that saw him claim the AFC Player of the Year in 2016, Al Duhail continued to dominate in midfield.

    And despite the 3-0 scoreline, continued to press forward.

    On 55 minutes, Al Ain found themselves 4-0 down when Almoez Ali scored the visitors’ fourth of the night.

    Mamic brought Khalil on and the decision paid off when the former Al Jazira and Al Shabab Al Ahli striker reduced the deficit on 68 minutes. Diaky added to his team’s tally with four minutes remaining.

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