‘He’s our best player’: Al Ain star Omar Abdulrahman draws praise from manager Zoran Mamic

Danilo Asprilla, left, opened the scoring for Al Ain with an assist from Caio, centre. Omar Abdulrahman chipped in with the second goal for the team, his fourth in past five games in the tournament thShow more

Zoran Mamic says Al Ain are "very lucky" to have a player of Omar Abdulrahman's calibre after he scored a superb goal on Monday to help the club qualify for the Asian Champions League knockout stages.

Abdulrahman, the current Asian player of the year, was one of the standouts in the Group C clash against Zobahan in Iran, scoring Al Ain’s second and assisting brother Mohammed Abdulrahman for the third in the 3-0 win.

The victory moved Al Ain top of the standings and sealed progression to the last 16 with one match to spare, as the 2003 Asian champions continue their quest to avenge last year’s final defeat.

It was Abdulrahman’s goal, when he slalomed past two Zobahan players before applying a fine finish, that attracted the most attention. The playmaker, regularly linked with a move outside the UAE, now has four goals and three assists in this year’s competition.

“He’s our best player, we don’t need to talk about the quality he has,” Mamic said of the Al Ain captain. “I’m lucky as a coach, and Al Ain as a team are very lucky, to have a player like this. Of course, it’s different with or without Omar. All teams in the world need a player like Omar and so too do our team. So thanks to the club for keeping Omar with us.”

Mamic also paid tribute to goalkeeper Khalid Essa and defender Ismail Ahmed for their roles in the victory in Isfahan. However, he conceded Al Ain were not at their best despite the margin of the win.

“Congratulations to my team for the victory and qualification to the next round of the Champions League,” Mamic said. “We didn’t play such a good match, but we won 3-0. The last few games in the Champions League we played much, much better and did not win, but that’s football. That’s why it is so nice.”

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