In the second leg of the AFC Champions League semi-finals, Riyadh Crescent defeated Al Ain 2-1 at home. Due to a 2-4 defeat on the road in the first leg, the Saudi giants were eliminated from the tournament with an aggregate score of 4-5.
In the quarter-finals of the AFC Champions League last month, Al Ain and Riyadh won two legs and drew in extra time, and finally Al Ain won the penalty shoot-out to advance.
After beating Riyadh Victory and Riyadh Crescent, Al Ain became the strongest spoiler in the AFC Champions League West Asia region. If you count the group stage double defeat of Faha, there are three Saudi teams in the AFC Champions League this season that fell at the feet of Ain.
Crespo and his team of Al Ain have become "Saudi nemesis" this season.
"Spoiler" Al Ain
Saying that Al Ain is a "spoiler" may disagree with some fans. Because as early as the peak of Dalian Shide's AFC Champions League era, Al Ain won the AFC Champions League.
For many years to come, Al Ain remained a powerhouse in the AFC Champions League, and under the leadership of "Gulf Messi" Omar, they could often achieve good results in the West Asian region.
But this season, Al Ain can successfully break through from the West Asia zone, but it can definitely be called a counterattack.
Saudi Arabia's big three giants Riyadh Crescent, Riyadh Victory and Jeddah United are far better on the rest of the teams, losing just one game in the group stage (14 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss) together.
It is inevitable that the rest of the teams will want to rush out of the West Asia zone and face the Saudi giants directly. If you're unlucky, you might be up against more than one Saudi team.
From this point of view, Al Ain's counterattack road was not only not taken care of by the signing, but also signed all the way. Because they met two of the three Saudi giants, and also met Saudi Arabia's "No. 4 seed" Faha.
In the group stage, Al Ain was in the same group with Fayha (Saudi Arabia), Tashkent cotton farmers (Uzbekistan) and Akhal (Turkmenistan), with 5 wins and 1 loss.
The only defeat was a 3-1 defeat at home to Tashkent Cotton Farmers, and the home-and-away double of Fayha (4-1, 3-2) was a warm-up for the knockout round against the Saudi giants.
In the 1/8 finals, Al Ain played against Nasaf (Uzbekistan), 0-0 away and 2-1 at home, and it was not until the 90+2nd minute of the second leg that Al Ain scored the winning goal by Rahimi.
Al Ain faces the Uzbek club, it seems to be more difficult than playing the Saudi giants?
The quarterfinals of the AFC Champions League were released, and the West Asian zone was surrounded by the top three Saudi Arabians to defeat Al Ain. Ain will need to face a Riyadh victory led by Cristiano Ronaldo, and if he is successful, he will also face Riyadh Crescent or Jeddah United.
At that time, there should not be many people who thought that Ain could rush out, right? Even if you don't believe in the strength of Riyadh's victory, you will definitely not doubt the domineering of Riyadh Crescent.
In the first leg of the quarter-finals, Al Ain defeated Riyadh 1-0 at home, with Rahimi scoring the only goal. The rhythm is a little wrong, but there are still many fans who have confidence in Ronaldo and victory at this time.
The second leg was a thrilling game, with Rahimi scoring two more goals and Al Ain leading 3-0 on aggregate. Riyadh Victory chased three goals in a row to enter extra time. In extra time, Ain took the lead again, and Ronaldo equalized in the last minute.
In the final penalty shootout, Riyadh won only 1 of the first 4 free throws, and Al Ain made all 3 free throws in the first 3 and successfully advanced to the semifinals.
Even if Al Ain wins Riyadh, there shouldn't be many people who are optimistic that they can beat Riyadh Crescent, after all, Riyadh Crescent's performance this season is too dazzling.
Prior to the match against Al Ain, Riyadh Crescent had won 34 consecutive games in all competitions. Several other Saudi powerhouses have also been defeated repeatedly against the Crescent, and Al Ain doesn't seem to be capable of doing better than them.
But they really did.
In the first leg of the AFC Champions League semifinals, Rahimi scored a hat-trick, Al Ain won 4-2 at home, and Riyadh Crescent's 34-game winning streak came to an abrupt end. In the second leg, Crescent won 2-1, but it was not enough to reverse the promotion, and the Saudi giant, who had crushed most of the season, collapsed.
Riyadh Crescent's last winless run was a 1-1 draw with Damac in the seventh round of the Saudi Arabian League on 21 September last year, while the last time Riyadh Crescent lost in regulation time was a 2-3 defeat to Saad in the group stage of the Arab Champions League on 31 July last year.
For more than 8 months, only this one was lost. But it was this defeat that shattered the biggest dream of the whole season.
Star Coach and Meritorious Player
Al Ain was able to defeat the two Saudi giants, and two people contributed a lot. One is coach Crespo and the other is striker Rahimi.
Al Ain's players are far less famous than the Riyadh duo, but their manager's reputation can beat the reputation of two Riyadh managers.
The 48-year-old Crespo has left a lot of wonderful moments in Lazio, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Chelsea and other teams when he was a player.
After retiring, he stepped into the coach's seat, although he did not make a particularly big move, but he can be regarded as a steady and steady achievement. He won the South American Club Cup with little-known Argentine side Defence and Justice, and led Qatari giants Al-Duhail to the league title.
It is worth mentioning that in the semifinals of the AFC Champions League last season, Crespo's Duhail team lost 0-7 to Riyadh Crescent. It seems that after that defeat, Crespo must have studied the Saudi team a lot, and this time he led Al Ain to win two Saudi giants in a row, which can be regarded as a ruthless shame.
Marc Rahimi, a striker from Morocco, has no previous experience playing in the top five leagues. was originally inconspicuous, but he became the biggest killer in this season's AFC Champions League.
Rahimi scored three goals in the two-legged tie against Riyadh and three more goals in the two-legged tie against Riyadh Crescent. At present, he has 11 goals ahead of Mitrovic, Cressan, Talisca, Ronaldo and others, ranking first in the AFC Champions League scorer list.
Crespo is not a big name as a coach, and the Ain players represented by Rahimi are even more incompatible with big names.
Although Al Ain is a UAE giant, it should be an incredible miracle for this season's Al Ain coach to come this far in the AFC Champions League.
Is such an AFC Champions League exciting?
Before the start of the 2023/2024 AFC Champions League season, some people said that it could be the best AFC Champions League in history. Because at that time, it seemed that Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Benzema, Mane and other world-class stars gathered in the AFC Champions League, and the Chinese Super League team was back to attack after a few years.
Whether from the home team's feelings or from the suspense of the championship, this season's AFC Champions League is worth looking forward to.
Now that the AFC Champions League has reached the semifinals, Ronaldo, Neymar, and Benzema are all out, and there is no Chinese Super League team in East Asia to the end, how much do you rate the excitement of this season's AFC Champions League?