Al Ahli fight back to earn a point from thrilling Asian Champions League opener

Al Ahli got their AFC Champions League campaign underway with a thrilling 3-3 draw at the Rashid Stadium against their Saudi Arabian namesakes.

Everton Ribeiro made his Asian Champions League debut in the 3-3 draw with Al Ahli Jeddah. Ashraf Al Amra / Al Ittihad

DUBAI // If the Asian Champions League was supposed to offer Al Ahli respite from a faltering domestic season, then Majed Naser clearly did not get the memo.

The UAE’s goalkeeper usually represents a relatively safe pair of hands - irrespective of his personal demons - but in Wednesday’s Group D opener against Al Ahli, his side’s Saudi Arabian namesakes, he reverted to custodian of calamity.

Two moments of madness almost proved costly for the Dubai club, who concluded the encounter with 10 men but somehow with a share of the spoils, too.

A 3-3 draw at the Rashid Stadium may hurt them when the group stages elapse yet, in that moment at least, it seemed like the most valuable of points.

Having come from behind three times, the Arabian Gulf League champions finally displayed the resolve that last season led them to both the Arabian Gulf League and League Cup crowns. It could represent a fresh start, after all.

“Unfortunately, we cannot eliminate these mistakes,” said Cosmin Olaroiu, the Ahli coach, afterwards.

“But we showed character in the game, created opportunities even with one man less for 15 or 20 minutes and could have scored a fourth.

“If we play this way in the league, with the spirit I saw, it will be much different. But I knew the players would be motivated for this competition.”

Perhaps the hosts began too hyped up. Before the clock had even struck one minute, Naser was overly eager to launch Abdelaziz Haikal’s back pass, but instead he simply swiped at fresh air, leaving Osvaldo to gleefully steal in to tap the Saudis ahead.

A frantic opening 45 minutes contributed three more goals: Hussain Al Moqawi’s well-placed header sandwiched between strikes from the impressive Ismail Al Hammadi and Ahmed Khalil, the UAE striker.

Then, in the 57th minute, Naser struck again. As Taiseer Al Jassam, the Saudi team’s captain, made his way to the Ahli byline, he fired a low cross, which Naser could only palm into his own net. Too far off his line, and coupled with his earlier indiscretion, this could be described as the birth of the weeper keeper.

“We made mistakes,” said Olaroiu, preferring to concentrate on the collective. “But step-by-step we came back and the confidence came back. [The opening goal] was a huge mistake, but we scored three goals for each of the league games we didn’t score before this. This is football.”

To add to the absurdity, Luis Jimenez, their captain, received a straight red card with 15 minutes remaining - an appropriate punishment given he scythed through an opponent. His teammates rallied soon after, however, when Al Hammadi bundled home his second goal to gift Ahli the most unlikely of draws.

For their guests, although a lead was let slip again and again, they will return to Jeddah in positive mood.

“We’ll see at the end of the group stages what this point does,” said Christian Gross, the Saudi club’s manager. “Of course, winning is always good, but sometimes you have to be satisfied with this point. It’s a point away, against a very strong team.”

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