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LONDON: Mohammad Al-Shalhoub was the unlikely hero as Al-Hilal got their AFC Champions League campaign off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory at Al-Ain.
The Group C clash pitted two of the heavyweights of Middle East football against each other with Al-Hilal desperate to get their continental campaign off to a good start, having exited at the group stage this time last year.
But there was to be no early slip-up this time as the Riyadh giants snatched a well-earned win thanks to veteran Al-Shalhoub’s 65th-minute strike.
Al-Hilal were on top for most of the match and the pressure finally told when the club captain got on the end of a Mohamed Al-Buraik cross to fire into the top corner and give the visitors an advantage they would not relinquish.
Al-Ain’s woes were compounded in the final minute as captain Ismail Ahmed was shown the red card — a moment that summed up a miserable night for the UAE champions.
From the start Al-Hilal looked the brighter and more energetic and nearly grabbed the lead as early as the third minute when Carlos Eduardo pounced on a loose ball inside the box, forcing Khaled Eisa into making a good save.
Al-Ain’s one chance of the first-half came from a set piece with Japanese international Tsukasa Shiotani's free-kick narrowly off target in the fifth minute.
It was the ��������Ƶn champions who dominated possession and they finally made the pressure tell when Al-Shalhoub got the winner to ease Al-Hilal nerves.
There was little doubting the win came as a relief to a side still haunted by the calamitous campaign last year.
“A key win in the ACL race: 3 points in the bag. (It was a) good performance of the team in Al-Ain,” French striker Bafetimbi Gomis tweeted.
Elsewhere, Al-Ahli recorded a shock 2-0 win over Qatar’s Al-Saad. A brace from Omar Al-Somah was enough to beat the Qatar side who reached the Westside final last year
The Syrian striker was on fire and once again proved that when on form there are few in Asia that can match him in front of goal.