Today's Edition
Kuumar Shyam (Aletihad)
Asian Champions League champions Al Ain suffered a humbling setback against Al Sadd club of Qatar in opening their title defence at home when they had to share honours in a 1-1 draw at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Monday.
Trailing by a late first-half goal, Hernan Crespo’s men found a late equaliser through Argentine midfielder Matias Palacios’ brilliant free-kick to spare some blushes.
The manner of the first goal of the match had its roots in the international fixture between the two countries represented in the FIFA World Cup Asian qualifier about 11 days back.
The leading team of the UAE did make some threatening moves, courtesy the frontman Sofiane Rahimi, but it was his counterpart and Qatar’s talismanic Akram Afifi who struck with the clock entering the four minutes of injury time of the first half.
Afifi, well aware that counterattacking the aggressive-minded defending champions is the Qatari club’s best option, tried a difficult angle from the right of the box and managed to find the bottom right corner, similar to how the UAE conceded on September 5 in Al Rayyan, Doha.
Both sides also had injury woes early into the match with Boualem Khoukhi getting replaced by Al Sadd as early as in the 16th minute. Al Ain also had a big setback when Yahia Nader could not go on and had to make his way out in the 30th minute with Abdoul Traore coming in.
Desperate for some impetus, Crespo brought in Kodjo Laba, one of the leading attackers early in the past campaign before he fell out of favour with the manager. Brought in the 53rd minute, Laba made some immediate impact with two attempts through a header and a half volley gone abegging in the space of seconds.
Palacios knows how to entertain the home crowd! ⚽#ACLElite | #AINvSAD pic.twitter.com/RDwKCRwBQc
— #ACLElite | #ACLTwo (@TheAFCCL) September 16, 2024
With Rahimi blunted out, Laba and Kaku provided most of the attempts for Al Ain. As the clocked headed into the final countdown, Palacios’ had his shot blocked just outside the box in the 80th minute. The midfielder, who just got an Emirati passport, rewarded the faith by taking the ball on the rebound and found the bottom right corner of the goal with a long-ranger that took a slight deflection from a defender's head.
Al Ain pressed for the winner in the next 15 minutes of the game, including added minutes, but Al Sadd chose to play safe.
In the other game, Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr were also held to a surprise 1-1 draw on their away trip to Iraq by Al Shorta. Al Nassr’s star player Cristiano Ronaldo was diagnosed with a viral infection and missed the opener of the tournament which is being played in a new format from this season.
This season onwards, instead of 40 teams, there will be 24 teams split evenly into two groups of East and West. Each team will play eight different opponents, drawn randomly, in the group stage.
The top eight teams from each zone will play in the last 16 over two legs in March, before the action moves to the final stages in Saudi Arabia from April 25 to May 4.
Al Wasl start campaign in Tashkent on return
ADNOC Pro League champions Al Wasl are back in the Asian Champions League (ACL) and they have their task cut out in the the revamped tournament when they open their campaign in Tashkent on Tuesday. Pakhtakor, their hosts, are coming into the game on poor form, but they will be counting on their track record to see them through.
Both teams are meeting for the first time and Al Wasl may be at a bit of a risk of stage fright on the big stage. On the other hand, Pakhtakor have lost only once in their last eight opening continental matches and are undefeated at home in as many matches.
Yet, the Uzbekistan champions are 12 points behind pace-setters FC Nasaf with just eight matches remaining.
In UAE, Al Wasl have started their title defence with a victory and a draw. Winning last season’s UAE Pro League ended a drought from 2007 and brought about Al Wasl’s eighth title, which secured a fourth appearance in ACL and first since 2019.
