In the AFC Champions League.. Al Ain holds Esteghlal to Draw by 2-2
Al Ain held the visitors, Iran’s Esteghlal, to draw by 2-2 in the round 3 match of the group stage held at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. Marcus Berg scored at “63” and Ahmad Khalil from the penalty point at “88”, while Esteghlal scored their two goals through Thiam at “51” and “77”. Noteworthy, Berg missed the chance to score a goal from the penalty point at “74”. By this result, Al Ain’s balance became 3 points.
Croatia’s Zoran had in his starting lineup the following players: Khaled Issa as the team’s goalkeeping, Mohannad Salem, Mohammed Ahmed, Shiotani Tsukasa, Hussein El Shahat, Ahmed Barman, Rayan Yaslam, Amer Abdul Rahman, Omar Abdul Rahman, Caio Lucas and Marcus Berg.
Since the early minutes of match, Al Ain exerted lots of pressure and had two great chances to score. The first was through Rayan Yaslam sent off by the defenders and the second was for “Amoory” who sent a screamer but the goalkeeper was able to send it away to be a corner kick at “6” minute of the match. The opponent team tried to advance to Khaled Issa’s net but all their attempts were not risky. “Amoory” received a perfect pass from Amer Abdul Rahman in the midfield and paved his way to the edge of the box and sent a powerful shot by his left foot but again defenders intercept it to be a corner kick at “31”. El Shahat again break through the backline by a great dribble and moved forward leaving five defenders behind him and sent a precise cross to Caio who tried to send it directly to the back net of the goalkeeper but the defenders intercepted it to be a corner kick at “35”. In the last minutes of the first half, El Shahat broke through from the right side but was tackled by Esteghlal defender and the referee pointed to a free kick. Amoory cleverly sent it to Rayan who sent a weak shot among a wall of defenders and then the referee whistled to finish the first half which ended by a goalless draw.
In the second half of the match, the two teams exchanged attacks since early minutes and Esteghlal were successful in scoring their first goal through their player Thiam in the minute “51”. Following that goal, Zoran decided to replace Aer Abdul Rahman by Bandar Al Ahbabi at “54”. El Shahat was able to Berg who was advancing in the box but was sent away by the goalkeeper to a corner kick “55”. Al Ain tried hard to level the result and back to the match again and El Shahat sent a stunning cross to Marcus Berg who was well positioned in the box of the opponent and was able to turn it successfully into the back net of Esteghlal at “63”. Al Ain’s frontline became so active and Berg was so close to score a second goal when he sent a powerful shot that passed over the bar by a whisker “70”. El Shahat penetrated again into the box and was blocked by Esteghlal defender when the referee pointed to in favor of the “Boss” at “72”. Berg sent a powerful shot but bounced back from the post and then tried again to send it into the net of the opponent but the goalkeeper successfully sent it off and Al Ain missed a dear chance to take the lead. Thiam again was able to score Esteghlal second goal after a counter attack at “77”. Zoran replaced Mohannad Salem by Ahmad Khalil to enhance the strike force of Al Ain at “84” and in attempt to level the result again. Ahmad Khalil did it and was tackled inside the box to be granted a penalty kick “86” and to score Al Ain’s second goal “88”. The referee decided to add 5 minutes as extra time and Bandar received a yellow card during this critical time. The two teams tried to score the lead goal before the end of the match but in no vain and the match ended by a 2-2 draw.
The match was run by the Malaysian Mohamed Amirul with the help of Mohammed Yousri, the first assistant referee and Mohamed Zine El Abidine, the second assistant referee.
