Disappointing display from Ronaldo as Al Ain secures a crushing 4-0 victory over Al Nassr.

Al Ain SC achieved a significant victory over Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr in the first round of the AFC Champions League.

Al Ain, the champion of the 2003 and 2024 editions, marked its return to the AFC Champions League with a crushing 4-0 win against Al Nassr in a match held on Tuesday evening at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, as part of the first round of the unified group for West Asia.

The Moroccan brothers Hussein and Sufyan Rahimi led Al Ain to this great victory, with Hussein scoring two goals in the 25th and 63rd minutes, while his brother Sufyan Rahimi, the top scorer of the 2024 edition with 13 goals, added the third goal in the 72nd minute, before substitute Greek player Giorgos Giakoumakis capped the scoring in the 85th minute.

This victory ended Al Ain's winless streak of 8 matches, following 6 losses and 2 draws in the 2024-2025 season, and reaffirmed their dominance over Al Nassr at the same venue, where they previously defeated them by the same score on their way to the 2024 title, before the Saudi champions returned the favor last year with a 5-1 win in Riyadh.

Similar to their recent local match that ended in a 1-1 draw with Al Khaleej, which saw them slip in the Saudi league title race, Al Nassr paid the price for fatal defensive errors, as it was evident that coach Ange Postecoglou's team struggled to play the ball out from the back.

In the 25th minute, left-back Saad Al Nasser gifted Hussein Rahimi an unintentional chance when he misplayed a back pass, allowing the Moroccan to break free and score with a low shot past goalkeeper Nawaf Al Aqidi.

Al Nasser almost worsened his team's situation after receiving a red card for a strong challenge, but VAR intervened and forced the referee to change his decision, issuing only a yellow card at the end of the first half.

At the start of the second half, Postecoglou decided to substitute Rakan Al Ghamdi for Saad Al Nasser to avoid further disasters, but his team conceded a second goal from Hussein Rahimi, following a similar pattern to the disallowed goal, as he tapped in a cross from Paraguayan player Kaku in the 63rd minute.

Nine minutes later, Sufyan Rahimi scored the third goal from another assist by Kaku after a quick counter-attack, exploiting the vast spaces in the advancing Al Nassr defense, before Giakoumakis completed the scoring from another rapid counter, with French defender Mohamed Simakan being the only one facing a three-player Al Ain attack.

Absence of Ronaldo and Mane's Impact

The other substitutes for Al Nassr's coach, Brazilian Angelo and striker Abdullah Al Hamdan, failed to change the course of the match, as Al Nassr lost the influence of their Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo and their Senegalese star Sadio Mane, as the Saudi team's attacks posed no real threat, with Ronaldo remaining subdued and only appearing with a powerful free-kick in the 89th minute, which was brilliantly saved by goalkeeper Khaled Eissa.

Al Ain started strongly, with Paraguayan Alejandro Romero passing the ball behind the defenders to Hussein Rahimi, who broke free and hit the post in the second minute, before Al Nassr responded with a free-kick taken by Portuguese Joao Felix, which Spanish Inigo Martinez headed, but was saved by goalkeeper Khaled Eissa in the 17th minute. Al Aqidi then denied a shot from Portuguese Rafael Rodrigues after a pass from Hussein Rahimi in the 39th minute.

In the next round, Al Nassr will face Uzbekistan's Neftchi, while Al Ain will visit Iraq's Al Shorta.