Al Duhail SC thrash Al Ain to put one foot in Champions League quarterfinals

Doha: Qatari champions Al Duhail SC defeated UAE side Al Ain 4-2 in their first leg of the AFC Champions League last 16 match to take a big step towards the quarterfinals.

In the match played at Al Ain's Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Duhail dominated from the word go and made the UAE champions look ordinary opposition.

Duhail thus ended Al Ain's 12-match unbeaten run, while extending their own unstoppable march to 18 matches. Djamel Belmadi’s side are also unbeaten in their last 32 games.

Duhail took the lead in the 16th minute through Youssef El Arabi who made no mistake with his left footed shot to score his seventh goal of the campaign.

Nam Tae Hee, who has raised his game up by a few notches after the unfortunate injury to Duhail captain Youssef Msakni, made it 2-0 in the 39th minute after a fast break.

Any hopes Al Ain had of coming back into the match in the second half were shattered quickly as Ismael Mohammed made it 3-0 in the 48th when he finished off El Arabi’s through ball with aplomb.

A few minutes later Almoez Ali got into the score sheet as Duhail all but sealed the tie.

Though Al Ain staged a comeback after that as Ahmed Khalil returned a goal in the 68th when he headed home Omar Abdulrahman’s cross and Ibrahim Diaku added a second in the 86th minute, it would not be sufficient to give Al Ain any hopes of stopping their opponents when the teams meet in Doha in a week’s time.

Al Ain had to endure more misery as their Brazilian winger Caio saw red card for a bad foul and will miss the second leg.