Abu Dhabi: Al Ain, riding on two penalty conversions by Marcus Berg, rallied from a goal down to register a crucial 2-1 win over Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the Group D fixture of the AFC Champions League at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Monday.
The Boss, thus, have consolidated their position in the standings and moved to second spot with seven points behind Iran’s Esteghlal FC, who have nine following their 2-0 win against Qatar’s Al Rayyan.
With this lose, the Saudi giants Al Hilal’s unrivalled record of qualifying from the group stage for nine successive seasons also came to an end. Having picked up just two points from five games, they are out of the tournament with a game to spare.
Just 40 seconds into the play and Al Ain’s ace mid-fielder Omar Abdul Rahman had Al Hilal goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi at his mercy after being set with a long ball by Mohamad Ahmad.
However, Omar Abdul Rahman’s finishing touches couldn’t breach the onrushing Al Habsi.
Immediately after that, the visitors switched into top gear and by pressing hard they were almost rewarded in the third minute.
Thankfully for Al Ain, the left vertical coming to the rescue following a right-footed effort from Achraf Bencharki, left unmarked at the left side of the six yard box.
Three minutes later, the visitors got the breakthrough from a free-kick.
Mohammed Al Burayk’s full-blooded right-footed effort from way outside the box, settling into the bottom-left corner after bouncing in front of Al Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa.
In the 24th minute, Al Hilal’s Mohammed Jahfali brought down Omar Abdul Rahman inside the box and referee pointed it out to the spot.
The star mid-fielder, however, couldn’t make that golden opportunity count as his shot was blocked brilliantly by Al Habsi, diving to his left.
Al Ain goalkeeper Eisa then came up with a fine save to prevent his team from slipping further in the 38th minute.
Bencharki rose high to send in a well-directed header off a pinpoint cross from Yasir Al Shahrani but an alert Eisa showed tremendous reflexes to keep it out.
Al Ain got a second penalty in the 40th minute, it was needless jersey pulling from Ali Albulayhi to stop Omar Abdul Rahman’s surge.
This time Berg stepped in to take the shot and the Swede made no mistake to put the purple brigade on level terms.
Then just before the break, Al Hilal were again guilty of tackling from behind. On this occasion, Fahad Al Rashidi brought down Rayan Yslam Al Jaberi.
Again Berg was too good to miss out on that opportunity. A neat grounder sent Al Habsi on the wrong and the scoreboard read 2-1 at the break.
With Hilal pressing after the change of ends, Berg had an easy opportunity on the counter to complete his hat-trick in the 68th minute.
A clinical cross from Brazilian Caio just need the finishing touches from Berg and though the latter chipped the ball over the onrushing Al Habsi, the ball had a bit too much elevation to find the horizontal.
Though Al Ain thereafter did well to playout the remaining time without any hiccups, they suffered a blow in the injury time, with Mohammed Abdul Rahman pocketing a red card following his second yellow of the match.
