| The National

AL JAZIRA 3 AL RAYYAN 2

Al Jazira - Caicedo 3', Barrada 9', Al Ghilani 73' Al Rayyan - Gonzalez 59', Uche 90+3'

Man of the match - Abdelaziz Barrada (Al Jazira)

ABU DHABI // The Al Jazira coach Walter Zenga was left fuming at his team's defensive blunders despite a winning start to their Asian Champions League campaign against Al Rayyan of Qatar.

Jazira took a firm grip on the match by bouncing to a 2-0 lead by the ninth minute, but were made to sweat for the three points as a late siege by Rayyan saw the Qataris narrowly lose the game 3-2 Tuesday night at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium.

“The three points were the only positives we can take from this game,” an angry Zenga said.

“We had the game under control for much of the first half and could have scored three or four goals.

“Instead we presented big gifts in the game for them to come back.”

Felipe Caicedo and Abdelaziz Barrada put Jazira into a 2-0 lead and Ahmed Al Ghilani, who came on as a second-half substitute for Ali Mabkhout, regained the two-goal cushion after Lucho Gonzales had pulled one back for the visitors just before the hour mark.

Ali Kasheif, the Jazira keeper, made a poor clearance from a pass by his own player straight to Kalu Uche to score in the third minute of added time that left Jazira clinging on to their lead at the end.

“The goal difference is very important and leaking out even one goal can take us out of the competition,” Zenga said.

“I am going to talk to my players this week and they must understand a win doesn’t mean we can be happy.

“The players need to concentrate 200 per cent for the entire duration of the game.

“When I lose a game I am never upset but to win like we did tonight doesn’t make me happy at all.

“We are making the same mistakes all the time. It means there is something to change.

“When we lead 2-0 in the ninth minute we must try to finish the game 4-0. We need to have this kind of mentality.”

Barrada set up the opening goal.

He slipped in a pass between two Rayyan defenders for Caicedo to shoot after a one-touch control from just outside the six-yard box.

Provider then turned scorer to double the advantage. Abdulla Mousa crossed to Barrada inside the box and he, in turn, passed it towards Caicedo.

The Ecuadorean’s effort was blocked by the Rayyan keeper Oumar Barry but the Moroccan midfielder was the quickest to react to the loose ball.

Lucho pulled one back with a low shot from 25 yards after Abdulla’s clearance fell into his path but Al Ghilani struck at the other end with a superb header off a Barrada corner to regain the two-goal cushion.

Uche’s late strike frayed the home side’s nerves but the result means Jazira begin Group A with three points to their name.

“After being 2-0 down in the first nine minutes and then to have Jazira under pressure until the end of the match is the positives we can take from this game,” Manuel Jimenez, the Rayyan coach said.

apassela@thenational.ae

Al Jazira got their Asian Champions League campaign off to a winning start, but the 3-2 result over Al Rayyan of Qatar was far from impressive after they had scored twice in the first nine minutes of the game.