On April 18, Beijing time, the semifinals of the AFC Champions League continued, and the UAE powerhouse Al Ain hosted the Saudi giants Riyadh Crescent. Rahimi scored four goals on his own, a first-half hat-trick, Kaku scored from the spot-on, Malcolm and Swasari scored, and the Crescent suffered a first-leg defeat as Al Ain ended the longest winning streak in football history.
In the 6th minute, Nadir picked up an assist, and the forward Rahimi penalty area volleyed into the far corner of the net to get off to a dream start. The crescent moon scene fell into passivity, and the defense line was continuously impacted.
In the 25th minute, Rahimi stepped in and went straight into the penalty area and was tackled by the goalkeeper, VAR intervened, and the referee signaled the foul point, and Rahimi took the penalty to complete the double ring. Although the value of Ain's whole team is not high, the back line is basically the top level in Asia, plus Kaku and Rahimi in the front court have super impact, and there is no doubt about their individual ability.
Ain's long pass worked on the back tactics, Eric was tackled in the box at high speed and was tackled by Blaich, VAR intervened again, and the referee finally awarded the penalty after a long replay, and Rahimi scored a hat-trick in the 38th minute.
After halftime, Crescent made timely adjustments, in the 49th minute, Milinkovic broke through the side and sent a cross, Malcolm who followed up in the middle grabbed the ball and scored a city, thinking that he was going to blow the horn of counterattack, but in the 54th minute, Koulibaly kicked down Rahimi in the penalty area, and the referee watched the replay or awarded the point, this time Kaku stood on the penalty spot and scored, and Ain regained the three-goal advantage.
Kaku counterattacked and hit the crossbar, and the crescent offensive resumed in the final stage, and in the 78th minute, the penalty area continued to create danger, Dawasari turned and swept the ball in front of the goal to score another goal, and the score did not change again in the rest of the time, and the first leg of the game Riyadh Crescent lost 2-4 to Ain, and the football record of 34 consecutive wins came to an end, so the result was more unexpected, two goals behind to see if they could achieve a reversal and enter the final in the second leg.