Moroccan international striker Sofiane Rahimi led his Emirati team Al Ain to stop the historic series of consecutive victories (34) for its guest, Al Hilal Saudi Arabia, when it defeated it 4-2, on Wednesday, in Al Ain in the first leg of the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League.
Rahimi scored a “hat-trick” in the 6th, 26th and 38th minutes from two penalty kicks, and Paraguayan Alejandro Romero IV (57th from a penalty kick) added Al Ain’s goals, and Brazilian Malcolm Oliveira (48th) and Salem Al Dosari (78th) added Al Hilal’s goals.
The two teams will meet in the second leg of the semi-final in Riyadh in April.
Al Ain entered the match that was scheduled for Tuesday, before it was postponed for 24 hours due to the storm that struck the Emirates, and it did not know the taste of victory in the last 4 matches in all competitions (two defeats and two draws), unlike Al Hilal, which achieved a series of victories that is the longest in the history of football. Football reached its 34th consecutive win.
But the 2003 champion surprised the record holder with titles in the AFC Champions League (4 times) and included him in the list of his victims from Saudi clubs in the current edition, after he defeated Al-Fayhaa in the first leg 4-1 and back 3-2 in the group stage, and surpassed Al-Nasr in the quarter-finals 1- Zero in the first leg and then back on penalties 3-1 after losing in regular and extra time 3-4.
Al Ain also inflicted the first loss on Al Hilal in the current edition after a series of 9 consecutive victories and a draw.
Al Ain’s Argentine coach, Hernan Crespo, relied on the same strategy in his two matches against Al Nassr, when he excluded Togolese’s Laba Kodjo, and focused on quick rebounds after hitting Al Ain strongly in the first half, leading with three goals scored by Rahimi, who completed his brilliance after he had also scored three goals in the two-legged and return quarter-final matches against Al-Ain. Victory.
Al Ain opened the scoring after Yahya Nader passed the ball to Rahimi, who was penetrating into the area, and he shot it creeping past Mohammed Al Owais (6).
The landowner continued his superiority, and the Brazilian Eric de Menezes shot a strong ball that was deflected by the Al Hilal goalkeeper into a corner (8).
Al Ain added the second goal after Al Owais obstructed the lone Moroccan international, and he successfully shot it himself (26), then Rahimi scored the third for him and his team via a penalty kick that Menezes took after Ali Al Bulayhi intervened (38).
Rahimi topped the scorers’ rankings with 11 goals, compared to 8 goals for Al Hilal’s Serbian striker Alexander Mitrovic, who was absent due to injury, and the Brazilian Crisan De Cruz (Shandong Taishan, China).
Al Hilal reduced the gap at the beginning of the second half through Malcolm Oliveira, benefiting from a pass from Serbian Sergei Milinkovic-Savic (48).
But Al Ain received a third penalty kick after returning to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), and this time Romero shot it past Al Owais (57).
Salem Al-Dosari reduced the difference again for Al-Hilal by scoring the second after Savic’s shot bounced back to him, which was blocked by Al-Ain goalkeeper Khaled Issa, so he prepared it for himself from a close range and followed it into the goal (78).
Al-Dosari almost put Al-Hilal in a better position in the second leg, but his long shot hit the right post (90+7).
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