Al Ain 1 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 1
Al Ain: Lee 34'
Jeonbuk: Han 30'
(Jeonbuk win 3-2 on aggregate)
Man of the Match: Choi Chul-soon (Jeonbuk)
AL AIN // This was supposed to be the match of Al Ain’s lives. Ninety minutes to clinch the glory, to write their name in history.
The match to put them on a pedestal alongside the Class of 2003, this club’s previous winners of Asia’s top club title — and the only time a team from the UAE has held that honour.
But the history and the glory belonged to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, the conquerors from South Korea. Thirteen years of hurt? Make that 14, and counting.
Half an hour in, Jeonbuk substitute Han Kyo-won stole in unmarked inside the six-yard box from a right-wing corner to score the goal that put the visitors two goals clear in the tie. And that was that for the final of the 2016 Asian Champions League.
Even Al Ain’s goal came from a Korean. Lee Myung-joo, the South Korean midfielder who will be heading back there for military service at the end of this season, bundled home a scruffy finish to Caio’s right-wing cross to level the match.
Try though they might, the home side could not reduce the one-goal aggregate deficit. The dream was over for another year.
Zlatko Dalic forecast before the match his players would play without nerves. That must have been kidology, but who he was trying to kid?
• Match report: Al Ain 1-1 Jeonbuk (2-3 agg): Asian Champions League final heartbreak for UAE club
It was questionable whether it worked with his players. The supporters were certainly on the edge all the way through. And it certainly did not work on himself.
If he was pleading for cool heads, it was much a case of: do as I say, not as I do. On the brink of halftime, the Croatian manager was enraged by the Jeonbuk players and bench.
The away side had been on a fast break, despite having a player down injured. When the move broke down, they wanted play stopped immediately.
Dalic appeared to be incensed by the double standards. He sped down the touchline towards the opposition technical area, pushed the fourth official aside, and forcefully conveyed his views to the Koreans. They hit back in kind.
The upshot was Dalic and a member of the Jeonbuk coaching staff were sent to watch the remainder of the match from the stands.
While both benches and club officials shared in the rage, the on-field players seemed relatively unaffected. When the half-time whistle blew shortly after, Al Ain’s men formed a placid huddle.
But they had clearly been on edge before that point. Omar Abdulrahman was lucky not to be sanctioned when, pre-meditated and off the ball, he angrily stamped on the toes of his man-marker, Choi Chol-soon.
Abdulrahman, who later cut a morose figure when he collected the player of the tournament award, had said on the eve of this second-leg this was "the game of my life". For him, it might have been curtailed after just 12 minutes.
Al Ain’s response to going a goal behind was courageous. When Lee equalised there was a visible exhalation of relief in the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. Some Al Ain supporters wept. A couple of the home players knelt in prayer.
Still the nerves would not dissipate, even though their resourcefulness was rewarded again when Danilo Asprilla, the unpredictable wing-threat, was upended in the area.
The chance was spurned, and their spirit was punctured, when Douglas blazed the penalty over the bar. With Abdulrahman on the field, perhaps the Brazilian was the wrong choice of taker. He had suffered a similar indignity on his Champions League debut for Al Ain against Qatar’s El Jaish in February.
Then, the furore. As a consequence, Dalic was forced to relay his instructions notionally from the stands for the second half. That hardly had a discernible effect, given he only had to move to the front row.
Even if the lines of communication were still open, the thread had been lost. The penalty miss skewered their momentum, the scuffle did for their composure, and the time was dripping away, too. The visible despair at the end told the story. The years of hurt go on.
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