ACL RD16: – 1ST Leg: Al Ain 1-1 Zob Ahan [VIDEO]

AFC – AL AIN, Mohammadreza Abbasi’s 76th-minute header earned Zobahan a 1-1 draw with inaugural ACL winners Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday to leave the teams’ 2016 AFC Champions League Round of 16 tie delicately balanced going into next week’s second leg.

Douglas netted nine minutes into a game controlled by the 2003 champions, but Zlatko Dalic’s side will be left to rue their inability – once again – to turn their dominance into goals after seeing Abbasi claim a vital equaliser.

The two teams will face off in Isfahan next Wednesday, with Zobahan holding a slender advantage thanks to Abbasi’s header, which came about as a result of a defensive mix-up between goalkeeper Khalid Eisa and former AFC Player of the Year nominee Ismail Ahmed.

“I’m proud of the players, especially the young players who gave their best to get a positive result from this match,” said Zobahan coach Yahya Golmohammadi. “We struggled in the first 10 minutes as we conceded a goal but we fought back and levelled the scores.

“We were close to scoring another goal in the second half but the match was not easy and Al Ain made things hard for us. We still have a match to play and we are ready for the game especially after this good result.”

Al Ain were on the front foot from the first whistle and in the eighth minute, Zobahan captain Ghasem Hadadifar was twice called upon to make clearances off the line, first after a shot from Mohamed Abdulrahman and immediately after by Lee Myung-joo.

Within a minute, however, the home side had taken the lead. Felipe Bastos’ cross from the left made its way through to the far side of the six-yard box from where Ismail Ahmed steered the ball into the path of Douglas, and the forward made no mistake from three yards out.

Zobahan threatened little in the opening 45 minutes, save for a weak header from Morteza Tabrizi. And with just six minutes left in the half, Al Ain should have doubled their lead only for Mohamed Abdulrahman’s shot – after a strong run down the right by Danilo Asprilla – to come back off the crossbar following a fingertip save by Mohammadrashid Mazaheri.

Tabrizi was inches away from levelling the scores just before the hour mark and Kaveh Rezaei curled his attempt narrowly beyond the top corner of Eisa’s goal as Zobahan sought out the equaliser before Omar Abdulrahman left fly with a left-foot attempt from 25 yards that was also marginally off target.

But with 14 minutes to go, the Iranians pulled themselves level on the night and claimed what could be a vital away goal when a mix-up between goalkeeper Eisa and defender Ahmed contributed to Abbasi’s downward header crossing the line via Eisa’s shoulder.

Omar Abdulrahman attempted to restore his side’s advantage with the final kick of the game, but his curling shot from outside the area was collected by Mazaheri as Zobahan held on.

“I’m not happy with the result of the match today as we should have got the victory,” said Dalic. “I’m also upset that we conceded a goal as this was a match at home. This will make our task very hard.

“We missed several chances in the first half. We should have got a better goal advantage but we didn’t convert those chances. The match was hard but it is over now and we will start concentrating on the second leg which will not be easy either.”

Picture: AFC