Al Ain hold Al Hilal to draw
abu dhabi — Al Ain returned with a point from their first Group D assignment of the AFC Champions League against Al Hilal at King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh.
There were numerous attempts from the UAE and Saudi ‘Bosses’ but the meeting ended without any goals.
On Tuesday late night, Al Ain players were aggressive from the beginning. In 10 minutes, Hussein El Shahat had a through pass to Marcus Berg but the striker’s attempt was parried away by Al Hilal keeper Abdullah Al Mayouf. Next minute, Ismail Ahmed’s header went wide through Caio’s corner.
In the 14th minute, Rayan Yaslam missed a header at the far left post. After a good phase of Al Ain domination, Al Hilal showed their intent with long-range efforts of Yasser Al Shahrani and Ezequiel Cerutti.
And in 33 minutes, Al Hilal’s Mohammed Kanno missed target inside Al Ain box. There were many smart moves and attempts of goal but nothing to worry the keepers.
In the second half there were more hits on goal. Al Ain’s Caio had the best chance from left flank but shot straight to keeper. Later, Al Ain keeper Khaled Eisa leapt to keep out Nicolas Milesi’s volley. Both teams continued pursuit for a winner but couldn’t deliver.
Caio said Al Ain despite missing out on many opportunities were happy with the result.
“We gave a strong performance. We will show the best we have in coming matches. Everyone is aware of what is required from them in the current season,” Caio said.
Al Ain sit at the bottom of the table. Qatar’s Al Rayyan and Iran’s Esteghlal played out a 2-2 draw. However, Caio said players are confident of qualifying from the group stages.
“We will pick points from next games to ensure that we qualify from this group.”
He noted there was lot to improve upon.
“We played a good match but we will work to deliver the best result in the next round. We will fight for the three points,” Caio added.
The players returned to Al Ain on Wednesday morning. They will be back in action with Arabian Gulf Cup match against Al Wahda on Friday. ashwani@khaleejtimes.com