Reda Saleem (Dubai)
“The History of the Greats” can only be written by “The Leader”, and once again Al Ain wrote a new page of its creativity, by qualifying for the final match of the AFC Champions League, for the fourth time in its history, after defeating Al Hilal Saudi Arabia by a score of 5-4 in the aggregate of the two semi-final matches of the tournament. After the return match ended in favor of “Blue” 2-1, which took place between them at the “Kingdom Arena” stadium in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, “El-Zaeem” Al-Aynaoui awaits the winner from Yokohama of Japan and Ulsan of South Korea.
The confrontation was exciting from the first minutes, after referee Ahmed Al-Ali awarded a penalty kick to Al-Ain, after returning to the “video technology”, and the “homeowner” translated it into the lead with the first goal through Ruben Neves in the fourth minute, which was his sixth goal with his team in 41 years. match, but Al-Zaeem Al-Aynaoui's players succeeded in scoring the equalizer in the 12th minute, following a strong shot by Eric, from a Yahya Nader pass, so the confrontation returned to the early “draw point”.
Eric's goal is Al Ain's first against Al-Azraq at its home stadium in Riyadh, since the 2006 edition, which ended 2-1 in favor of the home team, and it is the second ever, as Al-Zaeem scored only one goal in Riyadh, during 6 days. Meetings between the two teams since 2003.
Al Hilal coach Jesus played with all the offensive cards, relying on the sides, through the movements of Yasser Al Shahrani, Salem Al Dosari, Neves, Malcolm, and Al Shehri, but Al Ain coach Crespo played with a balanced plan between defense and attack, by trying to control the midfield, and relying on the movements of… Sufyan Rahimi, Kaku and Eric, in addition to Yahya Nader's role in the midfield, but Eric was the first forced change, after suffering an injury in the 18th minute, and Saeed Jumaa played in his place.
Despite Al Hilal's possession, Al Ain's players handled the match well, and Ahmed Barman almost scored an own goal in the 24th minute, but the ball hit the post, and Rahimi shot the ball next to the post.
The 40th minute witnessed Rahimi falling inside the area, and referee Ahmed Al-Ali awarded a penalty kick, before retracting the decision, after returning to the “VAR”, and then Rahimi missed another ball in front of Yassine Bounou’s goal, and Al-Ali awarded 11 minutes of time instead of stoppage time in the first half, which It ended in a 1-1 draw, setting a record, because it is the largest number of minutes counted for the first half of a match ever since the use of the “VAR” technology in the tournament.
The first half witnessed a relative superiority for Al Ain, as its players shot 7 balls on goal, compared to 6 for the “homeowners,” and each team shot two balls between the goalposts and the crossbar, while the “Violet” got two confirmed scoring chances, compared to one chance for the “Blue.”
Al-Azraq began the second half with the first substitution, with Salman Al-Faraj coming on, and Saleh Al-Shehri leaving, and the 51st minute witnessed the second goal for Al-Hilal, through Salem Al-Dosari, and Khaled Issa succeeded in saving his goal from a complete solo by Michel de Oliveira in the 59th minute, and Falah Walid participated instead of Ahmed Barman. Khaled Issa excels in defending his goal in more than one ball.
The confrontation reaches the finish line, and the referee counts 9 minutes of stoppage time, and Khaled Issa saves many balls, and the match ends with a 2-1 victory for Al Hilal, but Al-Zaeem deservedly qualified for the final match by winning 5-4 on aggregate.
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