History makers Al Ain win first Asian Champions League title in 21 years

Twenty-one years after they won their first Asian Champions League, Al Ain reclaimed the trophy with an dominant 5-1 victory over Japan’s Yokohama F Marinos in the second leg at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Saturday.

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Al Ain had the destiny of the title in their own hands and they grasped the opportunity to grind out a decisive victory in front of thousands of euphoric fans at the iconic venue

Yokohama F Marinos won the first leg 2-1 at home but the UAE side bounced back strongly for an aggregate 6-3 victory.

Al Ain last won the prestigious continental title in 2003 in its inaugural year when it was relaunched to replace the Asian Club Championship as the region's premier competition.

The Harry Kewell-coached J.League outfit was hoping to win the trophy in the last year of the competition in its present format before it undergoes a major overhaul ahead of the next season.

But it was not to be as Al Ain, the club from the UAE’s Garden City, who lost in two finals in 2005 and 2016, would not put a foot wrong as the team’s Argentinian coach and former football player   Hernán Crespo implored them to a historic victory.

The passion to win the trophy was evident after Al Ain overwhelmed powerful Saudi Pro League clubs Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal with the club’s Emirati defender Khalid Al Hashemi saying before the finals: "Everybody wants this trophy so bad. I hope from the bottom of my heart that we can give happiness to everybody in our country."

And they did majestically.

Doubles from Soufiane Rahimi and Kodjo Laba drove Al Ain to the landmark victory.

Following their continental triumph, Al Ain becomes Asia’s fourth representative at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, joining Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds and Korea Republic’s Ulsan HD at the US tournament next year.

Already holding a one-goal advantage from the home tie two weeks earlier, the Japanese side came racing out of the block trying to add another that could ease the task in front of a packed Hazza bin Zayed Stadium. Anderson Lopes tested goalkeeper Khaled Eisa within two minutes, but his shot from a tight angle was saved by the UAE international.

It was Al Ain who took the lead at the other end, doing so in style thanks to Rahimi’s strike in the eighth minute.

With seven knockout stage goals to his name already, the Moroccan showed his quality once again, picking the ball up on the left flank, cutting inside and feinting a shot but instead intelligently finding Yahia Nader who produced a moment of genius, sending a backheel pass that left goalkeeper William Popp in no man’s land and allowing Rahimi to slot home into the empty net for the opener.

Rahimi’s pace continued to be a nuisance for the Marinos defence; the Moroccan was too quick for Shinnosuke Hatanaka, beating the Japanese centre-back to the ball and forcing him to commit a foul inside the box, which translated into a penalty kick following a VAR check. Paraguayan playmaker Alejandro Romero (Kaku) stepped up and slotted home his side’s second.

Al Ain continued to rely on counterattacks and could have been 3-0 on the night seven minutes before the break when Rahimi pushed forward down the wing, beating his markers, but with just the goalkeeper to beat from a narrow angle, the winger’s left-footed finish hit the side netting instead.

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