Al Ain’s season got off to a poor start when they were stunned 4-2 by Khor Fakkan in the Arabian Gulf Cup first round.
Elsewhere, Al Dhafra struck late in a 1-1 draw against Shabab Al Ahli while Al Wasl returned with a 2-1 win over Al Wahda as football returned to the emirates after a seven-month coronavirus break.
Al Ain's Angola international Wilson Eduardo sent a spot kick wide 10 minutes into the first-leg game at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Friday.
The visitors took the lead through Ivorian Kouame Autonne on 34 minutes but Mohammed Abdulrahman struck the equaliser in injury time for Al Ain to go into the break all square.
Khor Fakkan scored twice in quick succession after the restart through Antonio Valmor and Omar Jumaa to go 3-1 up.
Al Ain narrowed the gap when Rafael Pereira found the net from inside the area but second half substitute Ramon Lopes regained their two-goal advantage 10 minutes later.
Dhafra's Brazilian forward fired an equaliser three minutes from time for Abu Dhabi's western region club to save a 1-1 draw with Shabab Al Ahli at the Rashid stadium.
Shabab Al Ahli were awarded a penalty for a Mohammed Saif foul on Federico Cartabia.
The Argentine winger stepped forward to fire it to the bottom corner of the net to put Shabab Al Ahli ahead 10 minutes into the second half.
However, when it looked like the hosts had done enough to hold on, Dhafra struck after Saeed Al Kathiri found Denilson inside the box.
Vuk Rasovic's first game as manager for Wahda ended in defeat after Joao Figueiredo struck the winner for Wasl deep into injury time at the Al Nahyan Stadium.
Ismail Matar, the longest serving player in the domestic competition after making his debut for Wahda in 2002, scored from the spot to give his team a 10th minute lead.
Nasser Noor levelled with an excellent finish from a Nicolas Oroz cross two minutes from the break.
Figueiredo snatched the victory from another accurate Oroz pass from outside the area to hold the advantage for when they meet in the second leg at the Zabeel stadium on November 13.
