Al Ain dig deep for important win over Zob Ahan

Abu Dhabi: ‘The Boss’ Al Ain pulled out a sensational 2-0 win over Iran’s Zob Ahan in front of a packed house to storm into the quarterfinals of the Asian Champions League at the Foolad Shahr Stadium, Isfahan on Wednesday.

It was a difficult fixture for the purple brigade, who had allowed Zob Ahan to escape with a 1-1 draw in the first leg at home.

However, they showed tremendous determination in front of a vociferous Iranian crowd and riding on goals from Korean Lee Myung-Joo and Colombian winger Danilo Asprilla scripted one of the biggest win for coach Zlatko Dalic. In the 12th minute, Al Ain’s Mohammed Abdul Rahman found brother Omar Abdul Rahman after playing a give and take with Myung-Joo. The ace playmaker Omar then dribbled past two defenders to set unmarked Myung-Joo with a swift back pass. The Korean had all the time in the world to pick his spot and he was too good to miss out. He found the right corner of the goal with a neat placement.

It has to be recalled that Myung-Joo had saved the day for Al Ain just three days back in the finals of the President’s Cup with an opportunistic strike in the second half of extra time. And clearly, he had carried his form into the crunch AFC outing.

In the 28th minute, Myung-Joo once again tested the Zob Ahan custodian Mohammad Bagher Sadeghi with a long ranger but this time, the ball just curled away towards the end.

The closest of chance for the home side came in the 32nd minute. Ehsan Pahlevan, latching on to a through from the deep, made a defence splitting run and had the Al Ain defence at his mercy but he failed to direct his left footer to perfection.

In the 37th minute, Al Ain’s Asprilla was set by Omar off a counter and the former curled in a long ball, only to see it go inches wide off the far post.

Then just before going into the breather Mohamed Ahmed had the lone Zob Ahan goalkeeper Sadeghi to beat but he ended up shooting the ball straight into the latter’s hands.

Al Ain kept up the pressure after the change of ends but the home team also had their chances to level terms. In the 53rd minute, Ismail Ahmed almost shot into his own goal trying to block a threating cross from the right but an alert goalkeeper Khalid Eisa plucked it from the air.

Then in the 61st minute, Al Ain scored the second goal through a quick counter. Omar set the pace initially before finding Asprilla, who out-sprinted a defender and ran down the centre before placing the ball past an onrushing Zob Ahan goalkeeper Sadeghi. Thereafter, Al Ain didn’t need to do anything extravagant. They sealed the defences tightly, soaked in all the pressure and played out the remaining time to clinch a memorable win.