Khalid Eisa says advantage Al Ain after first-leg draw with Al Jazira

Al Ain held 1-1 at Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium as Shabab Al Ahli beat Al Wahda in other Pro League Cup semi-final first leg

Al Ain’s Ivorian defender Kouame Autonne, right, scored in the 1-1 draw against Al Jazira in the Pro League Cup first leg semi-final at Mohamed bin Zayed stadium. Photo: PLC

Goalkeeper Khalid Eisa believes Al Ain hold a slight advantage in their Pro League Cup semi-final over Al Jazira following Tuesday night's 1-1 draw.

Kouame Autonne scored a spectacular early goal to put Al in ahead but Bruno De Oliveira equalised for Jazira six minutes after the break at the Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium.

“It’s certainly would have been nice to return with a win but the 1-1 result gives us a slight advantage when we meet Jazira in the return leg at home [March 8],” Eisa, who had an outstanding game between the posts for Al Ain, said.

“Anytime we play a team like Jazira in any competition we know it’s a tough game. Indeed it turned out to be a close game and we are pretty satisfied with the end result. Hopefully we can make it to the final.”

Eisa was called into action early on to keep out a curling low effort from Jazira forward Zayed Al Ameri.

The Al Ain goalkeeper then pulled off a save to deny Abdoulaye Diaby's left-foot effort four minutes later.

Ivorian defender Autonne headed in a corner to put Al Ain into the lead on 19 minutes, but De Oliveira restored parity with a powerfully struck right-footer to beat Eisa at his near post minutes after the restart.

A goal 10 minutes from time by Shabab Al Ahli’s Brazilian forward Gustavo was enough for the Dubai side to clinch a 1-0 win over Al Wahda in the other first-leg semi-final.

Shabab Al Ahli finished the the game with 10-men after defender Mohammed Jaber was shown a red card in the 73rd minute for elbowing Khalil Ibrahim who was through on goal.