Al Ain edge Al Nassr, book berth in AFC Champions League semis

Al Ain booked their place in the AFC Champions League 2023/24 semi-finals after beating Al Nassr 3-1 on penalties at Al Awwal Park on Monday, after the two teams played out a 4-4 aggregate draw over 90 minutes in Al Ain and 120 minutes in Riyadh.

Having scored the goal, which gave the Emirati side a 1-0 advantage in the first leg, Soufiane Rahimi added two more goals in the first half, but Al Nassr bounced back in the second half, before a late Cristiano Ronaldo penalty sent the game into the shootout.

It was end-to-end action from the get-go as the hosts chased the game and the away side attempted to find an early goal to cement their lead. Defender Mohammed Al Fatil saw his header from Alex Telles’ free-kick delivery saved by Al Ain goalkeeper Khaled Eisa inside six minutes, while at the other end, Raghid Najjar produced a fine save to deny Matias Palacios from close range.

The first goal of the night came in the 28th minute when Paraguayan play-maker Kaku sent a fine-through pass for Rahimi who broke the offside trap and ran through on goal from the left before slotting through the legs of Najjar for the opener.

Ronaldo came within a whisker of equalising for Al Nassr when he got on the end of a Marcelo Brozovic pass from the left, drilling a powerful strike towards the near post which required an exceptional low save from Eisa to keep it away.

 In the final minute of the first 45, Rahimi added his eighth goal of the AFC Champions League 2023/24, moving joint-top on the scoring charts. The Moroccan winger collected Palacios’ pass on the edge of the area, after the ball was intercepted inside Al Nassr’s half, then found the bottom corner, for his third goal across the two legs, extending Al Ain’s aggregate lead to three goals.

Late into six minutes of added time, Al Nassr revived their hopes thanks to Abdulrahman Ghareeb who was well positioned inside the box to finish off a move that saw Sadio Mane drag Eisa out of his goal before feeding the ball to his fellow winger to make it 2-1.

Luis Castro’s men picked up exactly where they left off after the restart, finding the back of the net within the first five minutes of the second half. Mane fed Otavio down the right and the Portuguese midfielder powered in a shot from an extremely tight angle which struck the legs of Eisa and went into the net to restore parity on the night.

Everyone at Al Awwal Park thought Al Nassr had completed a comeback at the hour mark when Eisa spilled his save of Ali Lajami’s shot into the path of Ronaldo who had the empty net at his mercy from all of three yards out, but somehow sent the ball wide.

The aggregate score was leveled with 16 minutes to go and it was former Manchester United left-back Alex Telles who curled in a free-kick from the right that went past everyone and tricked the Emirati goalkeeper, making its way to the back of the net to make it 3-2 to the hosts and take the game to extra time.

Al Nassr were reduced to 10 men in the early minutes of extra time Ayman Yahya was found guilty of violent conduct against Bandar Al Ahbabi, with the initial yellow card upgraded to red following a VAR review.

Al Ain swiftly took advantage as Palacios’ whipped a cross from the right flank that goalkeeper Najjar was unable to deal with, seeing it clip his hands and bounce off the crossbar before falling for substitute Sultan Al Shamsi who was left with the simplest of tap-ins from point-blank.

There was still time for more drama as Al Nassr were awarded a penalty when Ronaldo was brought down inside the box by Saeed Juma. The Portuguese legend kept his composure to slot home his side’s fourth goal of the game and force a penalty shootout.

Eisa saved Brozovic’s spot-kick and Telles hit the woodwork while Rahimi and Kaku scored the first two for Al Ain.

Ronaldo and Al Shamsi then exchanged scoring. Otavio then skied his shot from the spot and Al Ain advanced into the next round, with the UAE side to face either Al Hilal SFC or Al Ittihad in the semi-finals.

Agencies