The Emirati club Al Ain, champion of the 2003 and 2024 editions, launched its campaign in the AFC Champions League for elite football with a wide victory over its guest, Al Nassr Saudi Arabia, with four unanswered goals, in the confrontation that brought them together on Tuesday evening at the “Hazza Bin Zayed” Stadium, for the first round of the unified group for the West Asia region.
The two Moroccan brothers Hussein and Sufyan Rahimi imposed themselves as stars of the confrontation. Hussein opened the scoring for Al Ain in the 25th minute before adding the second goal in the 63rd minute, and his brother Sofiane, the top scorer in the 2024 edition with 13 goals, scored the third goal in the 72nd minute, while Greek substitute Giorgos Yakoumakis completed the Ainaoui quartet in the 85th minute.
Australian coach Ange Postecoglou’s team paid the price for individual defensive errors and the difficulty of coming up with the ball from the back, as Al Ain opened the scoring after a wrong pass in the back from defender Saad Al Nasser, which Hussein Rahimi took advantage of and went one-on-one with goalkeeper Nawaf Al Aqidi. The first half witnessed Al-Nasser receiving a red card following a strong intervention, before the video technology (VAR) retracted the referee to give him only a yellow card, and he was replaced at the beginning of the second half by player Rakan Al-Ghamdi.
Al Ain continued to exploit spaces in Al Nassr’s onrushing defense during the second half, as Hussein Rahimi added his second goal following a cross by Paraguayan Alejandro Romero “Kaku”, who returned to create the third goal for Sufyan Rahimi from a quick counterattack, before Yakumakis concluded the quadruple with another counterattack in which French defender Mohamed Simakan found himself alone facing three Al Ain players.
Al-Nasr coach’s offensive changes, including Brazilian Angelo and Abdullah Al-Hamdan, did not succeed in adjusting the result, in light of the absence of the real danger of the Portuguese team captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Senegalese Sadio Mane, as Ronaldo’s presence was limited to a powerful shot from a free kick in the 89th minute, which was brilliantly blocked by goalkeeper Khaled Issa, in a match that also witnessed early attempts, most notably two eyeballs against the post by Hussein Rahimi, and a header by the Spaniard, Iñigo Martinez. Joao Felix’s cross was blocked by the Al Ain goalkeeper.
With this victory, Al Ain ended a negative series that lasted 8 consecutive matches without achieving any continental victory, during which it repeated its superiority over Al Nasr with the same score on the same stadium, as happened on the way to winning the 2024 title. All eyes turn to the next round; Al-Nasr will host the Uzbek team Neftchi, while Al-Ain will host the Iraqi team Al-Shorta.
