Mohammad Reza Abbasi stunned the Garden City into silence with a late goal as Al Ain had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Zobahan in the AFC Champions League Round of 16 at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium on Wednesday night. Al Ain came with an intent to win and Zobahan were on the back foot from the start. Zlatko Dalic's men had most of the possession in the first half but failed to convert it into goals.
Zobahan manager Yahya Golmohammadi entered the first leg with a defensive tactics. And in the first half, Zobahan were clearly playing for the draw. It was only in the second half that Zobahan woke up from their slumber to go on the offensive and once they did results followed.
The star of the night, however, was livewire Mohammed Abdulrahman. Al Ain started the game with a series of attacks and were unlucky not to have net at least one goal. Mohammed Abdulrahman and Lee Myung Joo were both denied off the line by defender Ali Hamam inside first eight minutes.
But Al Ain's persistence paid off and in the ninth minute they went one-up through an easy goal by Dyanfres Douglas. Fellipe Bastos crossed the ball from the right to Ismail Ahmadi, who made a perfect pass for the Brazilian to complete the formality in front of the goal.
Zobahan had a good chance wasted in the 17th minute as a Morteza Tabrizi weak header went wide. Al Ain continued to press forward and in the 37th minute, Bastos attempted a long ranger that was comfortably saved by Mohammadrashid Mazaheri.
The Garden City club were unlucky not to have gone 2-up in the 38th minute when Mohammed Abdulrahman's shot off Danilo Asprilla cross went onto hit the crossbar. Enter second half, Golmohammadi switched tactics and Zobahan attacks flowed.
In the 57th minute, Tabrizi had a shot missing the goal by inches and in the 62nd minute, Kaveh Rezaei tried to curl the ball from the edge of the box to just miss the goal.
And with just 14 minutes to go, a mix up between goalkeeper Eisa and Ahmed saw Abbasi's low header go in. That was poor goalkeeping by Eisa.
Omar Abdulrahman did try to curl a shot in but it was not meant to be Al Ain's night. Now, Dalic needs to focus on the second leg - with an excess baggage of an away goal - in Ishfahan on Wednesday.
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