Park Yong-woo collapsed to the turf, sodden with sweat, his legs unable to carry him any more. Not far from view, Yahia Nader was on his knees, heads in hands, barely able to take in the moment, take in the accomplishment.
Some way away, to his left, Soufiane Rahimi embraced whichever teammate was near enough to wrap his arms around, before breaking free and pointing to the sky. Clearly overcome, the Moroccan masked his emotion by hiding his face in his hands. Still, the sensation washing over him was obvious.
Kaku, his colleague and conspirator in Al Ain’s incredible resistance, had already sunk to the ground, right in front of the UAE’s modest but mighty support, arms aloft. He had to be helped back to his feet by Ahmed Barman, who raced from the bench.
Al Ain, apparently against all odds and confronted with the continent’s most decorated club, had done it, Asian Champions League finalists for the first time in almost a decade.
They survived the Al Hilal onslaught, defended a potential place in the showpiece like their lives depended on it, and surfaced from the suffocating Kingdom Arena with history in sight.
Hilal triumphed on the night in Riyadh, 2-1 up from the beginning of the semi-final second half, but could not find a third to take the tie into extra time.
Boy, how they tried. Khalid Essa, the Al Ain captain, was inspired, blocking Michael when staring him fully in the eyes, then late on palming away the Brazilian’s near-post shot. Deep into injury time, Essa clawed away Ali Al Bulaihi’s point-blank header.
Hilal will surely rue some uncharacteristically wayward finishing. What Sergej Milinkovic-Savic would give to have back the final attempt of a pulsating encounter, when he sent the ball somehow high over the
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