Kuumar Shyam (Abu Dhabi)
The third match of the Asian Champions League (ACL) group stage between hosts Al Ain and Saudi Arabia's Al Hilal turned out to be a contest where both teams emerged winners in spirit although the scoresheet read 5-4 in the latter's favour.
When the final whistle blew on at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Monday, the men in white-and-purple lost but there was no shame in the spirited fightback by Hernan Crespo's men, considering they were 3-1 and 4-2 at different stages and against odds in opposition to the form side from the Kingdom.
There was drama galore as four-times ACL champions Al Hilal went about exacting revenge for their semi-final loss last season enroute to Al Ain winning the title for a second time. Eight goals came in 75 minutes of regulation time besides seven minutes of injury time in the first half.
Al Ain's talismanic striker went down twice amid injury concerns before he dusted off and scored a double on either side of the break.
His attacking threat was countered by Al Hilal spearhead Salem Al Dawsari who responded with a hat-trick in a manic period just after the hour mark. And then Neymar made an appearance with 13 minutes left on the normal attack and even almost got his name on the board as well.
Then Al Hilal went down to 10-men with Ali Al Bulayhi sent off after a second foul was upgraded in the 80th minute. For 12 minutes, Al Hilal held on but Al Ain drew a penalty from a foul by Khalifa Al Dawsari and Rahimi held his nerve for his own hat-trick.
In the last minutes and the dying seconds of the game, his teammates Kodjo Laba and Kouame Kouadio missed attempts to get a 10th goal in a match played at frenetic pace, especially in the end with the 12 minutes of injury time extending into 16.