AL AIN: Al-Hilal’s record breaking run of 34 consecutive wins came to a shuddering halt on Wednesday as Jorge Jesus’ Saudi Pro League leaders were beaten 4-2 by hosts Al-Ain in the first leg of their Asian Champions League semi-final.

Soufiane Rahimi’s first half hat-trick put the Hernan Crespo-coached side from the United Arab Emirates on the cusp of a spot in next month’s final as the Riyadh-based outfit’s run came to an end.

Al-Hilal’s loss, the first time they have failed to win in all competitions since a 1-1 SPL draw with Damak on Sept 21, came after the game at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium had been delayed for 24 hours due to widespread flooding across the UAE.

“There is no such thing called over confidence,” Jesus said. “In football, you can’t control what happens in the match.

“We are not used to conceding four goals and we should sit and analyse why this happened and correct it.”

Rahimi put his side in front with six minutes on the clock, stroking the ball into the bottom corner of Mohammed Al-Owais’ goal after Yahia Nader’s pass trundled through to the Moroccan forward inside the penalty area.

Rahimi doubled his side’s advantage 20 minutes later with a penalty after Al-Owais had upended the striker as he raced into the area to latch onto another Nader pass and the 27-year-old picked himself off the turf to score the spot-kick.

Al-Ain were given a second penalty after a lengthy VAR review following Ali Al-Bulayhi’s miss-timed tackle on Erik Jorgens, with referee Adham Makhadameh eventually confirming his original decision and Rahimi converted in the 38th minute.

Striker Malcom pulled one back from close range for Al-Hilal four minutes into the second half when Sergej Milinkovic-Savic drove into the home side’s penalty area to set the Brazilian up to score.

Another Al-Ain penalty in the 55th minute, this time scored by Paraguayan Kaku after Rahimi had been upended by Kalidou Koulibaly, restored Al-Ain’s three-goal cushion but Salem Al-Dawsari netted with 12 minutes left to give his side hope.

“Nothing is decided as we still have a match in Riyadh and everyone should be ready for the next match,” said Al-Ain coach Crespo. “The most important thing in life and in football is to be competitive. We are very happy with the result.

“I am happy because the players made the fans happy, and I am proud of the performance.”

The winner of the tie will face either Ulsan Hyundai of South Korea or Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos next month in the two-legged final.

Ulsan hold a 1-0 lead ahead of next Wednesday’s second leg in Japan after Lee Dong-gyeong’s 19th minute strike earned Hong Myung-bo’s outfit a narrow win at home.

The first leg of the final will be held in east Asia on May 11 with the return clash on the western side of the confederation two weeks later.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2024