The Al Ain team is entering into a historic confrontation, when it hosts Yokohama Marinos of Japan today in the first leg of the AFC Champions League final at 2:00 pm UAE time, at the Yokohama International Stadium “Nissan”, and “Al-Zaeem” seeks to achieve the first joy that paves the way towards achieving the title.
Al Ain holds on its shoulders Emirates Football’s hopes of achieving the AFC Champions League title for the second time, after previously winning it in 2003, as it is betting on its great experience in the tournament, compared to the Japanese club, which is competing in the final for the first time in its history.
Al Ain enters the first leg with great focus, because of its importance in determining the form and method of play in the return match on the 25th of this month, especially since a win or a draw will give the team a great advantage when it plays the return match at home and among its fans. The Asian Championship is also very important for Al Ain, after it was eliminated from competing for local championship titles.
This is the fourth time that Al Ain has played in the final. In 2003, it was crowned at the expense of Tero Sasana of Thailand, and lost in the 2005 and 2016 editions, to both Al-Ittihad of Saudi Arabia and Jeonbuk of South Korea, respectively.
It is expected that Al Ain coach, Argentine Hernan Crespo, will continue to rely on the imaginary striker style, a position now occupied by Moroccan Sofiane Rahimi, after top scorer Laba Kodjo was excluded from the list that headed to the Japanese city of Yokohama.
This method achieved great success in the team’s four matches in the quarter-finals and semi-finals against Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal of Saudi Arabia, as the Moroccan international performed at impressive levels and played the championship role by scoring three goals against Al-Nasr, and the same against Al-Hilal, making Rahimi top the list of top scorers in the Asian Champions League with 11 goals, including Seven in the playoffs.
Rahimi surpasses Yokohama’s Brazilian star Anderson Lopez in the number of goals scored during the current edition, as Lopez scored six goals in all stages of the tournament, and is the Japanese team’s top scorer.
Yokohama has been led by Australian coach Harry Kewell since the beginning of the qualifying rounds, while in the group stage it was led by another Australian coach, Kevin Muscat.
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