Al Ain 4 // Al Jazira 1
AL AIN // Al Ain secured their Pro League status and inflicted the first league defeat on champions Al Jazira since February 2010 with a resounding 4-1 victory at the Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium last night.
Omar Abdulrahman scored twice in the first half while Juma Saeed and Elias Ribeiro added second half goals to end Abel Braga's team's record unbeaten run of 28 matches, dating back to last year. Ricardo Oliveira was on target for the league and President's Cup winners.
Jazira ended with 10 players after Abdulla Mousa was sent off in added time after picking up his second booking.
The three points from the game took Al Ain's tally to 25, five more than Kalba, who went down to Dubai 2-1. Kalba now join Al Dhafra as the two relegated teams from the Pro League.
Alexandre Gallo, the Al Ain coach, had called for his charges to put it all on the line against the champions and his team duly obliged in an action-packed first half.
Al Ain went on the offensive from the word go and were rewarded with an early goal. Abdulrahman drilled a left-footed shot past Ali Kasheif, the Jazira goalkeeper, to the far corner of the net after being set-up inside the area by Juma Saeed, the lanky Ivorian forward.
The diminutive midfielder doubled the Pro League strugglers' lead when he beat the offside trap and scored at the second attempt after Kasheif blocked a first-time shot. Oliveira closed the gap after Ibrahim Diaky crossed from the right to set-up the Brazilian in front of an empty goal.
Saeed had an opportunity to put the home side ahead earlier but his effort from inside the area was headed out by defender Abdulsalam Jumaa.
Al Ain were presented with a golden opportunity to regain the-two goal cushion early in the second half from a penalty when Ahmed Dada pulled down Saeed.
Abdulrahman's spot kick was saved by Kasheif but the Jazira stopper made a huge blunder from an ensuing move to gift Saeed the simplist of chances.
Kashief's clearance was poor and went straight to the Ivorian, who gleefully struck it past the hapless keeper.
Elias Ribeiro, the Brazilian forward, who came on as a late substitute, sealed the nine-time league champions' safety with his first touch of the ball. The South American collected a long ball from Abdulrahman and smashed it past Kasheif to make it 4-1.