Leaders Al Ain Club clinched its summit with its host, Sharjah, with a retaliatory victory over it with ten players, 3-2, on Thursday, at the opening of the fourth round of the UAE Football League.
Moroccan Sofiane Rahimi (41st minute), Togolese Laba Kodjo (50th minute) and Brazilian Jonatas Santos (67th minute) scored the goals for Al Ain, and Brazilian Caio Lucas (45+5, 54th minute) scored the goals for Sharjah.
Al Ain raised its score to 12 points, moving away by 3 points from Shabab Al Ahly, which plays with Al Wahda on Friday. As for Sharjah, it fell to sixth place with 6 points.
Al Ain entered the summit with the ambition of continuing the strong start to the season and taking revenge on Al Sharjah, which had defeated it in 3 final matches held between them last season (the Super Cup, the Emirates Cup, and the League), and it achieved what it wanted, achieving its fourth successive victory in the league and seventh in all competitions.
Sent off and equalized in the first half
Sharjah translated its advantage at the beginning with a dangerous opportunity after a header from Lucas following a free kick from Bosnian Miralem Pjanic, which was brilliantly blocked by Khaled Issa, the Al Ain goalkeeper (12 minutes).
Abdullah Ghanem followed Lucas’s cross with his head, which hit the crossbar of the Al Ain goal and was cleared by the defense (16th minute).
Al Ain completed the match with ten players after its Ivorian defender, Kwame Otton, was sent off (37th minute), but nevertheless scored the lead goal after 4 minutes through Sufyan Rahimi, taking advantage of a pass from Brazilian Eric Jorgnes (41st minute).
The hosts equalized after Al Ain defender Bandar Al Ahbabi made a mistake in clearing the ball, and Lucas snatched it, stepped forward and shot out of Issa’s reach (min. 45+5).
The excitement continues
The excitement continued when Al Ain took the lead again through Kodjo, who followed into the net the Ivorian Abdullah Traoui’s shot, which was blocked by Sharjah goalkeeper Adel Al Hosani (50th minute), so that the Togolese striker scored his 90th goal in the UAE League since joining his team in 2019.
Sharjah quickly equalized through Lucas with a long shot (54 min), but Al Ain scored the winning goal through substitute Santos (67 min), emerging victorious despite the brilliant shot of Sharjah Lucas Lucas that hit the post (85 min).
Al-Nasr achieved its first victory after 3 defeats by defeating its host, Hatta, with three goals scored by Italian Manolo Gabbiadini (41st minute, 90th minute + 3) and Moroccan Adel Taarabt (45th minute + 5th penalty kick).
Hamdan Al Ameri was sent off from Hatta in the 45th minute.
On Friday, Shabab Al-Ahly will play against Al-Wahda, Bani Yas will play against the Emirates, Ajman will play against Al-Ittihad Kalba, on Saturday Al-Jazeera will play against Al-Bataeh, and Khor Fakkan will play against Al-Wasl.
2023-09-28 19:48:50
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