Zlatko quits with his passion still for Al Ain

After exiting the Arabian Gulf League competition following his squad’s 1-3 loss to Al Jazeera, Al Ain’s Croatian coach Zlatko Dalić announced today officially his resignation from coaching Al Ain Football Team. “I officially presented my resignation to Al Ain Club management following our loss to Al Jazeera. It’s time to leave,” he announced.

“I quit,” he continued, “and I feel proud for coaching Al Ain, happy for the nice time I spent here, and grateful to Al Ain Club management for their confidence in me and treating me gently. Despite my decision to leave, I’ll remain a big fan of Al Ain. I feel content I’ve done my best for the interest of Al Ain. Thank you everyone,” he added.

As he explained, Zlatko’s resignation was driven rather than by the loss but by his intention to hold Al Ain harmless; “I don’t like and refuse to see anyone criticizing me, the team, the Club management, the players or the fans.” He added.

“Moreover, I need to take a break promising to re-visit the beautiful city of Al Ain with my family members,” he continued.

However, Zlatko did not want to leave with reminding of his favors; “Before I leave, let me remind of some facts. When I took over, Al Ain was placed 470th compared to 120th now at FIFA World Ranking. Al Ain reached the finals and quarterfinals of AFC Champions League. ‘Amouri’ was awarded the ‘Asian Footballer of the Year’ title, and Al Ain proved to be one of the best teams that entertains spectators.”

After congratulating Al Jazeera for their 3-1 win over his team, Zlatko said: “My players made great efforts to win and created many shooting opportunities, but unfortunately we wasted most of them. I don’t blame the loss on the players.”

Explaining why he withdrew Al Shamrani though the team was lagging behind, Zlatko said: “We were playing well, and I wanted to reinforce our attacks that were lacking the finishing touch, so I sent in Diaky; besides, Nasser couldn’t have the opportunity to take advantage of our superiority. In our last match, I sent in 3 strikers together, but they couldn’t make a difference; and in the match before, I reinforced the offensive line with 4 strikers, but we failed to score. This is the current key issue of the team.” He concluded.