Al Ain Wins ES Sétif by 1-0 and Exits Arab Club Champions Cup
Al Ain won Algeria’s ES Sétif by a clean goal scored by Ibrahim Diaky at the “44” minute of the return match of Round 32 of the Arab Club Champions Cup held at Maksimir Stadium of Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.
By this result ES Sétif qualifies to the last 16-team stage of the championship taking advantage of winning Al Ain in the first leg match by 2-1.
Al Ain squad dominated the match and controlled the maneuvers area since the kickoff whistle and launched early attacks to hit the net of Sétif. First attempt was through Hussein EL Shahat but Sétif’s defenders sent the ball out to be a corner kick. Shiotani sent a deft pass to El Shahat who shot it powerfully but hit the goalkeeper “28”. Ainawi stars exerted lots of pressure to take the lead and El Shahat found himself against a wall of defenders who sent the ball out following El Shahat’s skillful dribble “40”. At the “44” minute, Al Ain attempts offensive attempts ended by scoring their first and only goal of the match when Amer Abdul Rahman sent a loop ball received by Rayan and then to Diaky who was in the right place and time and translated that chance into a goal.
In the second half, Al Ain maintained their superiority over ES Sétif through controlling the match as harmony was evident among Al Ain’s three lines. Against the waves of Al Ain’s attacks, ES Sétif adopted the compact defense style and relied heavily on counter attacks. ES Sétif’s goalkeeper was a star in palming off and handling the majority of Al Ain’s offensive attempts. He deflected a powerful shot sent by Caio at “55”, then he palmed off a robust screamer sent by Rayan to turn it to a corner kick “56”. Zoran decided to give Marcus Berg, the returner from Russia World Cup 2018, a chance when he decided to give Ibrahim Diaky a break at “64”. Berg’s first scoring attempt was at “75” when he sent a smart header behind Sétif’s goalkeeper who jumped high and barely touched the ball to deflect it into a corner kick. At “80” Zoran replaced Rayan Yaslam by Suleiman Naser and the whole squad tried their best to score their second goal with the aim to qualify the following stage of the championship but in vain. The result was fair enough for ES Sétif to be the first team to qualify to the further stage of this championship.
Al Ain Starting XI
Khaled Issa, goalkeeper, and in the back line: Ismail Ahmed, Saeed Jumaa, Shiotani and Bandar Ahbabi. The midfielders were Amer Abdul Rahman, Rayan Yaslam Caio Lucas and Mohammed Abdul Rahman. Al Ain’s strikers were Hussein El Shahat and Ibrahim Diaky. Substitutions included: replacing Ibrahim Diaky by Marcus Berg and Rayan Yaslam by Suleiman Naser.
