Al Ain against Esteghlal Tehran at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium
Al Ain team opened their second leg match file against Esteghlal Tehran as part of Round 16th of the AFC Champions League to be held at 10:45 p.m. on this coming Monday at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium. The “Boss” will strive hard to overtake the Iranian team and qualify to the semi-final stage of this continental competition.
Al Ain Team lost his away match by 0-1 against Esteghlal Tehran in the first leg match held on Monday at Azadi Stadium in Iran where the hosts were awarded at “90+2” a penalty kick that Kaveh Rezaei converted to give the hosts the lead.
Al Ain took control over of the match and was the best during the majority of the time and imposed their superiority on the pitch. Al Ain’s players showed a high level of tactical discipline creating the required balance between defense and attack; the matter that enabled them to control the match details in the right manner.
Al Ain had numerous chances inside the box but they missed the good luck, besides the all-out aggressive defense style adopted by the Iranian team in many cases to keep their net clean.
Since 77” minute, Al Ain completed the match with 10 men when Chinese referee Ming Fu showed the red card to Sa’eed Juma’ah following his tackle on Esteghlal’s Mohsan Karimi. Then, at 85” minute the referee also sent off Farshid Esmaeili by another red card following an assault off the ball from him on Caio.
The “Boss” was not affected by the lack in number of the team and imposed a cordon on the opponent team that obliged them to retreat to their back area.
As the game went into its last minutes of added time, substitute Mohamed Ahmed attempted to clear a cross from Esteghlal’s right flank, but he accidentally handled the ball and the hosts were awarded a penalty kick that Kaveh Rezaei converted it and successfully score the onle goal of the match giving the hosts the lead
Al Ain: 0
Starting lineup: Khalid Issa, Khalid Abdul Rahman, Sa’eed Juma’ah, Ismael Ahmed, Salem Al Azizi, Lee Myung- Joo, Ahmed Barman, Mohammed Abdul Rahman, Omar Abdul Rahman, Caio Lucas and Danilo Asprilla
Substitutes: Yousef Ahmed replaced Danilo Asprilla at “26” minute, and Mohammed Ahmed replaced Mohamed Abdel Rahman at “81” minute.
Yellow Cards: Khalid Abdul Rahman “38” and Caio “78”.
Red Cards: Sa’eed Juma’ah “78”.
Esteghlal: 1
Goals: Rezaei “90+ 2”
Starting Lineup: Rahmati, Padovani, Haidari, Robson, Mukhian, Bogairi, Ismaily, Hagdost, Khosini, Mohsen Karimi and Rezaei
Substitutes: Zekibur replaced Hagdost at 71”, Ansari replaced Mukhian at 88” and Yazdani Bogar replaced Mohsen Karimi at 90+ 5.
Yellow Cards: Mukhian “56” and Bogairi at “82”.
Red Cards: Ismaily at “85”.
Referees
The match was run by the Chinese Referee, Ming Fu, assisted by his two countrymen referees: Wiming Hoo “1st Assistant” and Dixin Wong “2nd Assistant”. The Official Referee was Hanna Hanab, Syria. Tokapiev Kimil, from Kyrgyzstan, was the match commissioner and Indian Srinivasan Sorep ” was the Referee Assessor, while the Malaysian, Mohan Tara, was in charge of security control of the match.
