Abu Dhabi: Al Ahli upset the form book by beating the Arabian Gulf League leaders Al Ain 1-0 to win the Arabian Gulf Super Cup for a third time on Friday evening, thanks to a late winner from Salmeen Khamis.
The AGL defending champions may be languishing in sixth place in the league table but they edged a tense affair which ended with Al Ain midfielder Mohammad Abdul Rahman being shown a red card for his petulant reaction to a refereeing decision.
In a goalless and combative first half at Al Jazira's Mohammad Bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ahli created the first decent chance after 14 minutes when Korean midfielder Kwon Kyung-Won latched on to a loose clearance by Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Essa, shot at an open goal, only for his effort to be cleared by scrambling defenders.
Ahmad Khalil fired the rebound into the side netting, while Al Ain’s best chance came on 35 minutes when Mohammad Abdul Rahman’s shot was palmed away by Majed Naser and Walid Abbas dived to bravely block Jires Kembo-Ekoko’s follow-up effort behind for a corner.
A similarly tense second half saw Al Ahli again threaten to score first when right-back Abdulaziz Sanqour weaved his way through Al Ain’s defence and crossed for Esmail Al Hammadi, who was unable to apply the finishing touch.
Twenty minutes before time, Al Ahli goalkeeper Majed Naser made a stunning stop to deny Mohammad Ahmad and Ebrahim Diaky fired over the bar from the resultant corner.
Four minutes from time, however, it was Al Ahli who broke the deadlock when Khamis powered home a header from Hammadi’s cross.
Al Ain’s woes were compounded when they were reduced to 10 men through Abdul Rahman’s dismissal, but Al Ahli suffered their own reduction in numbers when coach Cosmin Olariou was given his marching orders for this tempestuous antics on the sidelines.
The Red Knights survived a nervy 10 minutes of stoppage time, however, and added another trophy to add to last season’s treble campaign.
Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, presented them with the trophy in the presence of various dignitaries after the match.