The second leg will be held next Sunday in the hospitality of Al-Nasr

Al Ain is harsh on the 'Brigadier' and puts a foot in the cup final

  • Al Ain players celebrating the victory yesterday. From the source

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Al Ain put forward in the final of the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Football Cup, after winning 4-1 at the expense of Al Nasr in the first leg of the semi-final of the competition yesterday evening at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, while the second leg will be held next Sunday at Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai. The 'leader' owes his victory to the collective effort of his players, after they held together in the absence of the Togolese international team's top scorer Lapa Kodjo, who missed the match due to injury, as the latter played the last league match against Al-Bataeh despite his incomplete recovery.

The match witnessed a halves to give the players two minutes to cool, which is the system in place with the entry of the summer, as the match was held in hot weather, and the temperature exceeded the barrier of 34 degrees Celsius. A small number of fans of the two teams were keen to attend the meeting, despite the importance of the title for both parties, after exiting all other tournaments, and the need to save the season by crowning the title of this competition.

The first moments witnessed a great rivalry from the two teams, amid attempts to snatch an early goal to relax the nerves, and with the passage of time the rhythm of the meeting calmed down slightly, with more dangerous eye attempts, offset by a retreat from the guests.

Despite the chances obtained by the home side and the fans, which the visitors created despite their scarcity, both sides did not benefit from translating them into goals, and the first half ended negatively. The second half began with a clear eye advantage, especially in light of their desire to resolve the match and play the second leg with calm nerves, and the goal was not long ago, as it carried the signature of Ukrainian international Yarmolenko from the penalty kick in the 59th minute.

The goal opened the appetite of Al Ain players, who strengthened their lead with the second by Argentine Blasios in the 69th minute with a strong shot from inside the penalty area, and the hosts returned and scored the third through Moroccan international Sofiane Rahimi in the 77th minute with a strong shot, and also from inside the penalty area.

When the match was on its way to the end, Al Nasr snatched the goal to reduce the difference in the 2+90 minute by Moroccan Adel Taarabt with a strong shot from inside the penalty area in the empty goal, taking advantage of the wrong exit of goalkeeper Khaled Issa, but Al Nasr was not congratulated by the goal much, as Rahimi returned and scored the second goal for him and the fourth for Al Ain in the 4+90 minute, on which the match ended.