Al Ain Loses Round 1 First Leg to Al Hilal 0-1
Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal latched on to Mohammed Al Shalhoub’s 65th minute goal to beat The UAE’s Al Ain 1-0 in the AFC Champions League Group C match at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday 5th March 2019.
The First Half
Both teams started strongly as Group C opened with explicit intention to take the lead early and present a quality football that match the reputation of the two teams. Essa saved his net from Brazilian Carlos Eduardo deft shot. Al Ain responded directly through Japan international Tsukasa Shiotani’s free-kick as a result of a violation committed against Mohammed Abdul Rahman, but his ball passed the left post of Al Hilal’s goalkeeper.
The tempo of the match changed to be in favor of Al Ain as the Boss players dominated the midfield and exerted high pressure on the guests. The Boss’ fighters threatened the goalkeeper of Al Hilal by launching attacks through the superfast left winger, Bandar Al Ahbabi; he rattled the defense of Al Hilal several times. Also, Rayan whose cross overs were so dangerous. Berg sent a deft crossover to Bandar in Al Hilal box, but it went over the cross bar “41”. Al Ain continued to possess the ball and dominated the match until the match referee whistled to send both teams to the break while the board shows the result of goalless result.
Second Half
At the start of the second half, Al Hilal exerted high pressure over Al Ain. Eduardo of Al Hilal thought he had found the opener just after the break but his thunderous strike from Sebastian Giovinco’s cushioned header cannoned off the upright “50”. Khaled Issa was able to handle a deft screamer sent by Eduardo in the 56th minute of the match. At “62”, Mohammed Abdul Rahman replaced Amer Abdul Rahman. It was left to veteran Al Shalhoub to finally break the deadlock at “65”. It took Al Ain to respond and was so close to score at “66” when Ryan passed the ball to Bandar but Bandar was unable to control it and went out the line. Juan Carlos tried to enhance the front line by bringing Jamal Marouf on the field replacing Mohammed Fayez “78”, and then Diaky who replaced Doumbia “81”.
The worst-case scenario become true as Al Ain were reduced to a player down when Ahmed Ismail was given the marching orders in the 90th minute of the match with a straight red card in his pocket. Al Ain had the chance to equalize in the dying minutes of the match when Berg’s header passed both Jamal Marouf and Barman.
Al Ain: 0
Goals: None.
Starting Line-up: Khaled Issa, Ismael Ahmad, Tsukasa Shiotani, Mohammed Fayez, Mohannad Al Enezi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Ahmad Barman, Amer Abdul Rahman, Rayan Yaslam, Doumbia, Marcus Berg.
Substitutions: Mohammed Abdul Rahman replaced Amer Abdul Rahman “62”, Jamal Marouf replaced Mohammed Fayez “78”- Ibrahim Diaky replaced Doumbia “81”.
Yellow Cards: Doumbia “23”- Jamal Marouf “85”.
Red Cards: Ismael Ahmad.
Al Hilal Saudi: 1
Goals: Mohammed Al Shalhoub “65”.
Starting Line-up: Abdullah Al Mayouf, Mohammed Al Braik, Ali Al Balihi, Yasser Al-Shehrani, Milos Dijnick, Mohammed Al Jahfali, Eduardo, Giovinco, Mohamed Shalhoub, Mohamed Knou, Gomez.
Substitutions: Hattan Bahbury replaced Al Shalhoub “75”, Hassan Mahboob replaced Giovinco “80”.
Yellow Cards: Knou “90 + 4”.
Goals: None.
Referees
The match was managed by Nawaf Shoker Allah “Match Referee”, assisted by Yaser Khalil “First Assistant”, Mohammed Jafar “Second Assistant”, Ismael Habib “Fourth Official.
