The league is closer to “Al Ain”… Rahimi Al-Saghir captures Shabab Al-Ahly 3-2 in the “Clasico Majnoon”

Al Ain took a big step towards crowning the UAE Professional Football League title, after achieving an exciting victory at the expense of its direct pursuer, Shabab Al Ahly, with a score of 3-2, today, Friday, at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, in the summit of round 22.

Al Ain raised its score to 56 points, expanding the difference with Shabab Al Ahly to four points, after the latter’s score froze at 52 points.

Al-Ain presented a clear offensive performance from the beginning of the match against Shabab Al-Ahly, imposing a relative advantage in terms of possession, and almost opened the scoring early through Amadou Niang, who shot a strong ball from inside the penalty area, but Shabab Al-Ahly goalkeeper Hamad Al-Muqbali turned it into a corner kick.

The confrontation was renewed between the same player and the goalkeeper, after an explicit confrontation with the goal, but Al-Muqbali continued his brilliance and successfully blocked the attempt.

Then, Blasius wasted another opportunity for Al Ain, after he penetrated from the middle of the field and shot a ball that went over the crossbar despite being close to the goal.

The first threat to Shabab Al-Ahly came in the 35th minute, when Sardar Azmoun penetrated Al Ain’s defense, before his shot went over the crossbar.

At the end of the first half, Rami Rabiaa was able to give Al Ain the lead, taking advantage of Abdelkarim Traoré’s shot, to turn the ball with his heel into the net (44).

With the start of the second half, Shabab Al-Ahly succeeded in equalizing quickly through Youri Cesar, who followed Bala’s cross and put it into the goal without harassment from Al Ain’s defence.

Bala almost gave his team the lead later with a powerful shot that penetrated Al Ain’s defences, but goalkeeper Khaled Issa blocked it brilliantly.

Al Ain regained its lead following a corner kick taken by Blasius, and the ball passed everyone and reached Laba Kodjo, who turned it into the net with his chest and foot (56).

But Yuri Cesar returned to give Shabab Al-Ahly a draw again, after he executed a free ball that hit Kaku and changed direction to land to the right of the goalkeeper (67).

Youri Cesar almost added the third goal for his team in the same way he scored the equalizer, but the brilliance of Al Ain goalkeeper Khaled Issa prevented that, after he cleared the ball for a corner kick.

Khaled Issa continued his remarkable presence, when he brilliantly blocked Bala’s shot, which headed into a difficult angle.

Substitute Hussein Rahimi, the younger brother of his teammate Sufyan Rahimi, scored a goal after following a rebound from the crossbar, but the VAR technology intervened and canceled the goal due to offside.

But Hussein Rahimi then managed to score the winning goal for Al Ain, after penetrating the ball and ending it with a tight shot that landed to the left of the goalkeeper (87).