Al Ain crush Al Nassr in AFC Champions League Elite opener

Al Ain thrashed Saudi Arabia's Al Nassr 4-0 at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on Tuesday in the opening-round fixture of the AFC Champions League Elite.

The UAE side secured their first three points of the campaign, with Houssine Rahimi scoring twice in the 25th and 63rd minutes, before his brother Soufiane struck in the 72nd and Giorgos Giakoumakis completed the scoring in the 85th.

Al Ain, with an edge in possession, were gifted the first goal after a backpass from an unaware Saad Al Nasser on the right was intercepted by Rahimi, who drilled the ball through Nawaf Al Aqidi’s legs and into the left corner.

The Saudi Arabia outfit came close to an equaliser in the 38th minute when Mohamed Simakan rose high to head over the bar off a corner, while their captain Cristiano Ronaldo was caught offside moments later.

An initial red card for Al Nasser for an elbow to Lazaro’s face two minutes before the break was downgraded to yellow after a VAR review before Al Ain’s Abdoul Traore closed the half by skewing his shot over the bar.

Al Ain displayed the same intensity in the second half as they did in the first but failed to create any clear chances, with Rahimi directing his first-time shot straight to the Al Nassr custodian in the 60th minute following a cross from Yahya Ben Khale.  

The striker, however, made amends three minutes later again with a first-timed shot, which flew past a diving Al Aqidi following a pass from the right by Alejandro Romero across the face of goal.

Soufiane made it a family affair in the 72nd minute, when off a pass from Romero again, he came in from the left behind Simakan and swept the ball into the bottom right corner. 

Al Ain put the result beyond doubt in the 85th minute when Giakoumakis exchanged passes with Soufiane before drilling a low shot into the left corner past a rooted Al Aqidi.