Abu Dhabi: Al Ain coach Zlatko Dalic has hailed his team’s dominant performance against Zob Ahan that led to their 2-0 win in Iran and entry into the quarter-finals of the Asian Champions League.
Dalic’s side were in a tight spot going into the crunch match against Zob Ahan after the 1-1 draw in the first leg.
Getting an early goal was crucial and that was provided by Korean Lee Myung-joo, who clearly had carried his form from the President’s Cup into the key outing. That goal from Lee put the opponents on the back foot straight away.
With Colombian winger Danilo Asprilla scoring the second goal after the break, it was then always a struggle for the home side, who had plenty of support.
A lot of credit should also go to Al Ain’s goalkeeper Khalid Eisa, who was simply exceptional, as were his backline. “In the prematch press conference, I had said that if we were going to win, we had to fight hard. We did so, and we were the dominant side throughout the match,” said Dalic adding, “Zob Ahan are a hard working and strong team but we were better than them today. We deserve to be present among the last eight teams and I’m honoured to be head coach of such a team.”
Al Ain’s victory also broke their jinx of not having won an AFC Champions League fixture on their previous seven visits to Iran.
Al Ain, who won the inaugural Asian Championship in 2003, have made it to the quarters of the tournament for the second time in three seasons. They last made it to the final in 2005 — eventually losing out to Saudi outfit Al-Ittihad 5-3 on aggregate.
Zob Ahan’s coach Yahya Golmohammadi was of the view that his team paid the price for a poor beginning to the match.
“We didn’t have a good start. We conceded in a surprising way in the beginning of the match. We could have equalised but we didn’t do so,” said Golmohammadi, whose side till then had not lost a single match in the tournament.
“In the second half, we conceded for the second time through our own mistake and lack of discipline and concentration. We were behind by two goals, so it became too hard for us to get back into the match,” added Golmohammadi.
Al Ain, who lost out on the Arabian Gulf League title to Al Ahli, have no time to relax as they have another crucial clash in the President’s Cup awaiting them on Sunday. Having gone dry without silverware at home so far this season, the contest against arch rivals Al Jazira is expected to be another cracker of a game in the capital.
