After the league.. “The cup fills the eye”

Al Ain combined the double of the league and the President’s Cup, after winning the cup for the eighth time in its history, after defeating Al Jazira 4-1, in the final match that brought them together today, Friday, at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium, completing an exceptional season that ended by dominating the two most prominent local championships.

The final match was fast and exciting from its first minutes, without periods of feeling the pulse, as Al Ain initiated an early threat through Laba Kodjo, who shot a ball that was blocked by goalkeeper Ali Khaseef and sent it away for a corner kick (5).

Al-Jazira responded quickly through Nabil Fekir, who took advantage of a free kick and hit the post before hitting goalkeeper Khaled Issa and into the net (11).

Al Ain did not wait long to return the result, after Sufyan Rahimi took advantage of a defensive error, starting from the middle of the field and running alone on goal before he succeeded in scoring the equalizing goal (15).

Rahimi returned to give his team the advantage again, taking advantage of another defensive error, as he led a counterattack that ended with a shot into the goal (20).

Al Ain almost increased its lead with a third goal, had it not been for the intervention of defender Khalifa Al Hammadi, who cleared Caio’s shot off the goal line, preserving Al Jazira’s hopes of returning to the match (29).

In another attack, Abdelkarim Traoré was able to widen the gap, after cutting a ball in front of Nabil Fekir, before launching a powerful shot that touched Ali Khasif’s hand and hugged the net.

Al Jazira tried to reduce the difference in the last minute of the first half, and Simon Panza succeeded in scoring with a header, but the referee canceled the goal due to offside after returning to the video assistant referee technology.

The second half witnessed a relative advantage for the Al Jazira team in terms of possession and attempts to reach the goal, but the team collided with a tight defensive organization by Al Ain, which succeeded in closing all spaces in front of Khaled Issa’s goal, maintaining its lead until the final whistle.

On the other hand, substitute Hussein Rahimi almost increased the score with a fourth goal for Al Ain, after he led a distinctive counterattack, during which he dribbled more than one player before shooting the ball against the post.

Substitute Eric Menezes scored the fourth goal for Al Ain after a long ball sent by Khaled Issa to Blasius, who in turn reflected it with a perfect ball on his head and had no difficulty converting it into the goal (90+4).