AL AIN // It appeared to be a serious injury when Omar Abdulrahman pulled up while chasing a ball inside the area on the hour mark on Wednesday night at the Hazza bin Zayed stadium.
He grabbed the back of his right leg and lay down on the pitch writhing in pain before being stretchered off.
The Al Ain midfielder later appeared in a post-match interview to clear up any injury concerns. He said he had had a muscle spasm and was feeling much better.
Abdulrahman was returning to club duty at Al Ain for the first time in more than four months.
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His last game for his club was the Asian Champions League semi-final second leg against Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia, where he picked up an ankle injury.
He had joined the national team soon after his return to fitness and was back at Al Ain after a busy Asian Cup campaign in which the UAE finished a creditable third behind champions Australia and the runners up South Korea.
“I received a few knocks during the game and felt a jarring pain when I chased a ball, but I am feeling fine after some treatment from the medical staff,” said Abdulrahman after Al Ain’s 2-1 victory over Al Shabab.
Lee Myung-joo and Jires Kembo-Ekoko scored on either side of half-time for Al Ain to clinch a hard fought 2-1 win over 10-man Shabab.
Before he left the field Abdulrahman was wielding his usual influence and, on 16 minutes, he sent a neat pass to Ibrahim Diaky who lobbed it first-time inside the area for Myung-joo to charge down and fire on the bounce past the Shabab goalkeeper Salem Abdulla to the far corner of the net.
Right on half-time the Al Ain defence was caught napping, though, as Nasser Masood struck the equaliser from a counter attack.
He collected a pass from Dawood Ali, ran inside the area and rounded the Al Ain defender Mohanad Salem before squeezing it past keeper Khalid Essa at the near post.
Ali could then have put the visitors ahead early in the second half when he scooted down half the field to unleash a stunning shot that was expertly pushed out by Essa.
“Khalid made an excellent save. That possibly helped us win the three points,” said Zlatko Dalic, the Al Ain coach.
“Shabab are a good team and they kept everything tight. We had a good first half. We had possession and created a few scoring chances although we scored only once.”
Dalic fielded all the national team players who returned from their Asian Cup campaign a few days ago.
“I would have loved to give them a rest but this was an important game and we needed the three points,” he said when asked if he had considered resting those players.
Caio Junior, the Shabab coach, said they were up against a very good team and was satisfied with his team’s effort on the night.
“We can take a lot of positives from this game as we created about four clear chances,” the Brazilian said.
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