UAE football fans are in for a treat as they have already witnessed Brazilian striker Neymar tear it up in an Asian Champions League clash featuring Al Hilal versus the UAE’s Al Ain.
Tuesday will be a big day for football as global superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo will make a return to the pitch as he leads Al Nassr against Esteghlal FC of Iran in another thrilling encounter.
In a last minute move, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) ordered Esteghlal to find a neutral site for their confrontation against Al Nassr. This match was supposed to be hosted at the Qodesia Martyrs Stadium, Tehran on 22 October. However, it was moved to Dubai since there were worries about security.
Al Nassr team chose to arrive in Dubai on Monday in high spirits after managing an impressive string of wins. Al-Nassr currently has four points after the first two games and can progress towards the second round if they win this game.
The new format of the tournament now has four groups comprising of 12 teams split into eastern and western parts, with the top four teams qualifying for round 16.
Thriller in Al AIn
Neymar finally stepped foot on the pitch after being absent for over a year, playing the role of a second half substitute in his team’s dramatic 5-4 victory against the Asian Champions, Al Ain, in the UAE. His second-half appearance came when his new club, Al Hilal, was battling against Al Ain.
The 32 year old attacker, who previously played for both Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, barely made an appearance since he tore his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the international duty last October.
He was named on the bench for the first time since his ACL knee injury for the recovery game between Asian Champions Elite and Al Ain at Hazzan Bin Zayed Stadium. The Brazilian player managed to enter the pitch when the situational score was already 5-3 in favor of Al Hilal.
What Al Hilal was achieving at the time was thanks to goals from Renato Lodi, Sergej Milinkovic_Savic, and a hat trick from Salem Al Dawsari. However, It is forbidden for any new Saudi Pro League players to officially register for league matches until January.
Monday was a scoring day for Hilal as Aleksandar Mitrovic made a pass to Lodi who drilled a low shot past Khalid Essa for the first goal of the match within 26 minutes of the game. Khalid Essa was the goalkeeper for the Al Ain team during the match.
Nevertheless, Soufiane Rahimi, a Morocco international, leveled the scores with just six minutes to go before the interval, sliding in a cross six minutes before half time.
Last season, Rahimi was the top scorer and also the player of the tournament in Al Ain’s Asian Champions League campaign.
In the first period, Hilal was able to get a lead over their UAE counterparts just before the half time break. First, the summer transfer from Manchester City, Joao Cancelo, assisted Tomislav Milinkovic-Savic, who scored the goal unmarked from a distance of six yards. A few moments later, the last year’s winner of the Asian Football Confederation Player Of the Year, Al Dawsari came clear of Al Ain’s defence, went past Essa and curled the ball into the net perfectly into the angle.
Al Ain’s deficit was cut short just after the 午 osume time by Mateo Sanabria, a midfielder on the other hand of Al Dawsari’s netted his second goal from a cross provided by Milinkovic-Savic.
A few moments later, Al Rahimi scored twice as the seesaw battle shifted again. Al Dawsari later responded, restoring Hilal’s two-goal advantage, sending the crowd into a frenzy with a thunderbolt from distance.
Few minutes after 12 minutes of the total time the match was added time due to injuries. Al Hilal was down to 10. One of the defenders – Ali Al Bulaihi – ignored the rules and got a red card for a deliberate handball. Rahimi won and scored a penalty which completed his hat-trick and gave Al Ain a glimpse of hope but the Saudi champions preserved their lead and won the match.
Neymar couldn’t spend much time affecting the game as he rasped his attempt a couple of seconds before the regular time.
Hilal sit at the top of the Western region group with three wins out of three whereas, Al Ain has managed to gain one point only.