Al Hashemi confident Al Ain can beat Yokohama in second leg to win Asian Champions League

Al Ain defender Khalid Al Hashemi says he hopes from “the bottom of my heart” his side can deliver another Asian Champions League success for the UAE, as he backed the club to overcome Saturday’s defeat in the first leg of the final.

The 2003 winners, the only Emirati team to lift the continent’s premier club prize, suffered a 2-1 loss against Yokohama F Marinos in Japan.

Al Ain took an early lead at the Yokohama International Stadium through a Mohammed Abbas rebound but would ultimately concede twice in the final 18 minutes.

Contesting their fourth final and first since 2016, Al Ain will look to overhaul the one-goal deficit in the second leg at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium on May 25 – and, in the process, end a 21-year wait for the trophy.

“We have another 90 minutes in our stadium against the same team,” Al Hashemi said. “We know them now already. [The first leg] was about the little details. We lost because of those, especially with the crosses and second balls – we could have done better with these details.

“I believe if we can concentrate more about these, Inshallah we win in our stadium and take the trophy with our fans. I hope so.”

Al Hashemi, 27, described the players in the dressing room immediately after the defeat as being "devastated", adding: “Everybody’s upset. We knew that we could at least get a good result, even a win or a draw.

“But this is football, this is life. Sometimes what you want you can’t [make] happen. I hope we recover these days, and we make a very good result with our fans.”

Al Ain, twice runners-up, boast an almost-perfect home record in this season’s Champions League, having won all but one of their six matches at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.

Hernan Crespo's side defeated Saudi Arabian