AL AIN // First Salmeen Khamis, then Ahmed Khalil, then Khalil again. One, two, three. Five minutes, three goals.
A manic second-half spell at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium spun an all-UAE Asian Champions League clash completely on its head, and in the process totally redefined the respective seasons of the country’s two most prominent sides.
Once the dust had settled on this last-16 second-leg encounter, Al Ahli had emerged with a place in the quarter-finals of Asia’s elite club competition. Al Ain, initially 1-0 up on the night and therefore on aggregate, departed beaten and broken.
“A blackout” was how Zlatko Dalic, the visibly dejected Al Ain coach, described his side’s swift capitulation. Understandably, Dalic struggled to offer an explanation for what he had just witnessed, a collapse eerily similar to last seasons semi-final surrender to Al Hilal. Last-four participants in 2014, they have been reduced to also-rans this year.
Reaction: Ahmed Khalil turns focus to President's Cup after inspiring Al Ahli's Champions League progress
Gallery: Al Ahli edge out Al Ain on away goals to reach Asian Champions League last-eight — in pictures
“I cannot say anything against my players,” Dalic said. “It happened, it was a very bad time. We tried everything after that five minutes, but it was an impossible mission and we could not do it. We didn’t lose a Champions League match all this season, but we lost the tie.”
In their place, Ahli continue an unlikely continental campaign, bounding through the knockout stages for the very first time. Initially a goal down to Asamoah Gyan’s fourth-minute strike, Cosmin Olaroiu’s men responded three times in quick succession shortly after half-time.
First, Luis Jimenez’s corner cannoned off Khamis and into the Al Ain net. Moments later, Khalil latched onto Everton Ribeiro’s through ball and drove his shot in off the far post. Then, as Ahli’s bench and travelling support celebrated still, Khalil prodded home a rebound from Ribeiro’s effort.
From 1-0 to 1-3 in a flash. Following a stalemate in last week’s opening leg in Dubai, Al Ain suddenly needed three goals of their own. They pegged one back, when Gyan half-volleyed past Ahmed Dida, and then another in stoppage time through Rashid Essa, but they could not claw themselves back from the abyss.
“Maybe, when you consider the first leg and tonight’s match, the best team qualified,” said Cosmin Olaroiu, the Ahli coach, who previously spent two years in charge of his vanquished opponents. “For me, the victory does not have the same taste, because I win against Al Ain. I spent two years here, fantastic years, I played against my brothers, my children – it’s difficult.”
He had words of comfort, too, for his former club, the UAE champions who no longer cling to a Champions League dream. A 2014/15 season that promised so much has concluded in the worst possible fashion. Omar Abdulrahman, their standout star, disappeared down the tunnel in tears.
“I know many, many things about them, and all the game our play was difficult for them to win against us,” Olaroiu said. “But they have fantastic players, very good management, a good coach and for sure this is a point to start, not the end. They will be build a new team, be much stronger. I hope this for them.”
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NatSportUAE
