Marino Pusic said something needs to be done to stop fans throwing bottles at players, terming it “dangerous”.
The Al Ahli Saudi coach was speaking after his side’s 3-1 win over Al Wasl in Dubai on Monday night.
The AFC Champions League Elite group match was played in an electric atmosphere created by 4,500 supporters at the Zabeel Stadium.
Emotions boiled over at points, though, with many plastic bottles and cups being thrown onto the pitch.
In particular, Saleh Abu Al Shamat, the Ahli forward, became a target after irritating supporters with his antics.
First, he invoked ire after being perceived to feign injury in an altercation with Adryelson, the Wasl defender.
When he was playing on the wing near Wasl’s diehard supporters in the second half, he was pelted with bottles. He responded by gesturing to them to throw more.
Later in the game he was stretchered off on a medical buggy with a shoulder injury.
The injury did not stop him from goading the home supporters, and celebrating when he went past the away section.
That led to more aggravation, with even a couple of bottles being lobbed his way from the Wasl bench – leading to a confrontation between the opposing sets of substitutes.
Al Wasl v Al Ahli - in pictures
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Feras Albrikan celebrates with teammates after scoring Al Ahli's third goal in their 3-1 AFC Champions League Elite win over Al Wasl in Dubai on October 12, 2026. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Feras Albrikan scores for Al Ahli in Dubai. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Roger Ibanez celebrates after scoring Al Ahli's first goal. EPA -
Al Ahli's Ivan Toney attempts a bicycle kick. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Pedro Malheiro scores for Al Wasl to make it 1-1. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Al Ahli's Francisco Trincao celebrates with teammates after scoring at Zabeel Stadium. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Al Ahli's Roger Ibanez heads home in Dubai. EPA -
Roger Ibanez, second left, celebrates after putting Al Ahli 1-0 up. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Saleh Abu Al Shamat of Al Ahli goes down theatrically after the slightest of touches from Ahli's Adryelson. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Al Ahli striker Ivan Toney. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Roger Ibanez scores Al Ahli's first goal. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Pedro Malheiro celebrates after scoring for Al Wasl. Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Al Ahli's Saleh Abu Al Shamat on the ground after clashing with Adryelson of Al Wasl. EPA -
Adryelson scores for Al Wasl only for it to be disallowed for offside. EPA -
Al Ahli's Croatian coach Marino Pusic before the game. EPA
The issue of bottle throwing is not unique to Wasl. Most high profile fixtures in the region see instances of projectiles being thrown at moments of tension in the game.
With matches played in high temperatures, clubs make water readily available to supporters.
At Al Ain, for example, that now takes the form of paper cups alongside large water coolers at the back of stands.
Other clubs provide small bottles or plastic cups of water. Sometimes these are thrown by irate fans, targeting players, coaching staff, or match officials.
It happened at the AFC Champions League Elite final last season, which Ahli themselves ended up winning.
High profile international fixtures between Qatar and the UAE have also been notable for it happening.
Pusic joined Ahli, the two-time Asian champions, ahead of this season after leaving Abu Dhabi club Al Jazira.
He said he does not want the passion of supporters to be diluted, and pointed out that the fixture against Wasl ended with cordial relations between the two sides.
But the Croatian-Dutch coach said players and officials should not have projectiles thrown at them.
“It could be a problem with people throwing very dangerous things on the pitch, because players and staff members [could] be hurt by these kind of things,” Pusic said.
“I feel always pity about things when that happens. The passion and the support must be always there, and that's good. I like that part as well.
“But as you can see, after the game, it was everything was nice, fine, like it should be.
“In the heat of the moment, things can happen. But it's dangerous when you throw too much. It shouldn't happen, of course. But we are professionals; we are used to a lot of things.”
The result leaves Wasl without a point after two matches in the Champions League, with many supporters voicing their frustration with coach Rui Vitoria.
Roger Ibanez, who scored the first goal for Ahli, said his side were glad to get out of Dubai with the three points.
“We knew it would be a tough game,” said the Brazil centre back, who was the player of the match.
“We played here two years ago when we also got the result, and today was again a really tough match but we got the result.
“We did a good job. Inside of the pitch, the players who started and the players who came in helped a lot.
“Now let's go home and recover because we have a tough match [in the Saudi Pro League against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr on Thursday].”
Al Ain maintained their sparkling start to the Champions League and they sit at the top of the 16-team table.
The UAE double winners followed up their opening day thrashing of Al Nassr with a 4-1 win over Al Quwa Al Jawiya in Basra.
