Shabab Al Ahli are one game away from playing in the biggest game in Asian club football after beating Buriram United on Saturday night.
The UAE champions required extra time to eventually stave off their Thai counterparts in the quarter-final of the AFC Champions League Elite in Jeddah.
The 3-2 win means they will now advance to a meeting with Machida Zelvia, of Japan, in the last four on Tuesday night.
That gives them three days to patch themselves up after another exhausting assignment in high temperatures and in the aftermath of a sandstorm.
The UAE champions have had a sequence of big matches of late. Paulo Sousa, the coach, acknowledged recently that they do not have quite the squad depth they did last season, when they swept up all the major domestic titles.
Sardar Azmoun, for example, was a notable absentee against Buriram. The Iran striker has been injured for much of this season, but has been working his way back to full fitness.
He played a key role in their 3-0 win over Tractor in the last-16 tie on Tuesday. This time around, though, he was absent from the match-day squad.
Sousa has done his best to juggle his pack where possible, though. Federico Cartabia, the captain, missed the win over Tractor, but was restored to the starting XI to face the Thai champions.
The Argentina-born No 10 had an immediate impact. He set up the opening goal with wicked delivery from a right-wing corner.
His cross was as good as impossible defend, even for a goalkeeper as experienced as Neil Etheridge, the Buriram No 1 with Premier League experience.
As the ball was whizzed into the centre, Igor Gomes, the Shabab Al Ahli defender, headed against a post. As it bounced back out it rebounded into the net off the shoulder of Buriram midfielder Peter Zulj.
The Dubai side were glad of the early lead, but were under no illusions they faced a tough task. Buriram are no easy beats.
They won four trophies last season, and were one of only three sides who made it back to this stage of the competition that played in the Elite Finals last season.
The Thai side’s physicality unsettled Shabab Al Ahli, but they were still able to carve out regular openings. Cartabia might have scored, had a good chance not fallen to his weaker right foot. He fumbled it wide.
His left foot, by contrast, is a wand. At the start of the second half, he grazed the crossbar with a shot from 35 yards out.
At a corner that followed shortly after, another appetising Cartabia cross was flicked on at the near post, and bravely headed in by a stooping Ezatolahi for Shabab Al Ahli’s second goal.
That took the wind out of Buriram’s challenge, and it was not like they could rely on getting a lift from the stands.
Just as in Shabab Al Ahli’s opening game on Tuesday, the stands at the Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium were empty.
Buriram got some assistance from elsewhere, though, in their bid to battle back. Ezatolahi had been the hero moments early, but he cost his side in his own penalty box.
As he rose to contest an aerial duel, the Iranian midfielder left his right arm flailing in the air. The ball struck it, and a penalty was awarded on review with Guilherme Bissoli scoring from the spot.
The door had been left ajar for Buriram, and they were shoving their way through it. With 20 minutes left, Zulj atoned for his earlier own goal as he drilled in the equaliser from the edge of the box. It stayed at 2-2, meaning extra time.
It was increasingly apparent the logjam of big matches was catching up with Shabab Al Ahli.
Cartabia succumbed to cramp. Gomes hobbled off before extra time restarted. Even Sousa was consigned to his bench for most of it, rather than his usual habit of prowling the edge of his technical area.
Although they were running on fumes, they found a new spark, and for the third time had success from a corner.
They re-established their lead when Renan, the centre-back who had taken the captain’s armband when Cartabia went off, stole in and bundled home their third goal.
They had chances to put it beyond Buriram. Substitute Sultan Adil shot wide when put through by a Guilherme Bala free-kick, then Yuri Cesar was thwarted by a brilliant save by Etheridge.
As Buriram chased the game, chances continued to fall the way of the Dubai side. Bala blazed a free-kick over from the edge of the box, following a foul that saw Myeong-Seok Ko sent off. It proved to be the last kick of the game.
