Zlatko Dalic returned to his former haunt in bullish mood, but he left bowed, almost broken.
In the space of 10 minutes at a teeming King Fahd International Stadium, in this opening leg of the Asian Champions League semi-finals, his hopes of leading Al Ain to a first final in nine years went from fragile to fractured beyond repair.
Al Hilal, those familiar foes who he managed as recently as last year, proved the most inhospitable of hosts, rocking Riyadh to the tune of three goals without reply.
With it, their place in next month's showpiece seems secure. Unbeaten in 14 matches coming into the encounter, Al Ain simply crumbled. Ten manic minutes undid seven months of hard labour.
That chance to again be crowned champions of the continent, to emulate the celebrated class of 2003, slipped away in the white-hot heat of the Saudi Arabian capital.
Even before kick-off, Hilal’s fervent support had implored their players to put the visitors to the sword, one side of this famous football arena raising a choreographed mosaic that plainly screamed “beat ’em”.
Hilal did not just do that, they cut Al Ain to the core.
First, Nasser Al Shamrani, the prolific striker, skipped around Ismail Ahmed and thumped a shot high into the Al Ain goal.
Khalid Essa, the UAE goalkeeper, could only thrust up an arm in vain.
The ground, which was packed to its 67,000 capacity, erupted. The clock had just struck the hour.
By the time it climbed to 70 minutes, Al Ain were all but sunk.
Al Shamrani had already scored a second – with the Saudi close by, Mohammed Fayez appeared to deflect the ball into his own goal – when Nawaf Al Abed was brought down in the area by Essa and a penalty promptly awarded.
Essa was dismissed, but his replacement, Dawoud Sulaiman, somehow turned Thiago Neves’s spot-kick around the post.
Al Ain had a glimmer of hope, although it proved all too fleeting.
Moments later, Neves corrected his error with an easy finish to gift his team a third.
Dalic’s game plan, which has served him so well since his appointment in March, had been reduced to tatters.
Where Al Ain go from here seems almost as obvious as it is bleak.
A three-goal deficit does not exactly inspire confidence, no matter how optimistic a slant the club will put on it in the coming days.
The two sides reconvene in two weeks, although the September 30 meeting at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium already feels fixed with a sense of the inevitable. Boasting a defence that has not conceded for eight consecutive Asian matches, Hilal will have to suffer a similar capitulation if Al Ain are to progress.
It is up to Dalic to lift his battered troops.
The Garden City club, as decorated domestically as their Saudi counterparts, require a mammoth endeavour to prolong this unlikely adventure.
How they react to a first defeat since late March will determine their fate.
As difficult as this will be to take, and as tough as it is to consign to the past, Al Ain must regroup and rebound.
Put bluntly, they have no other choice.
jmcauley@thenational.ae
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