Al Wasl turned their two-goal deficit against their hosts, Al Ain, into a 3-2 victory in the first round of the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup Play-Off.

Al Wasl’s lineup for the match was as follows: Dinko Horkas as goalkeeper, Hugo Neto, Adryelson Silva, Soufiane Bouftini, and Pedro Malheiro in defense, Serginho, Siaka Sidibe, Renato Tapia, Ridwan Popoola, and Leandro Spadacio in midfield, and Mehdi Taremi in attack.

Al Ain took the lead from the first minute through Georgios Giakoumakis, and Al Wasl responded with attempts to score. Serginho tried in the tenth minute with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area, which Al Ain goalkeeper Mohammed Busanda saved, while Siaka Sidibe broke through in the seventeenth minute on the left side of the penalty area and played a cross that was cleared by the Al Ain defense.

Georgios Giakoumakis scored the second goal for Al Ain in the twentieth minute, and Al Wasl pressed to reduce the deficit. The most dangerous attempt came through Renato Tapia in the thirty-sixth minute with a powerful ball that almost entered the net, but the Al Ain goalkeeper cleared it with difficulty. The efforts of the Al Wasl players paid off, as Mehdi Taremi scored for the Emperor from the penalty spot in the forty-first minute.

In the second half, the team’s head coach, Mr. Rui Vitoria, made substitutions, bringing on Brahian Palacios in place of Leandro Spadacio and Yahia Nader in place of Ridwan Popoola. Renato Junior and Matheus Saldanha also came on as substitutes for Mehdi Taremi and Serginho, while in stoppage time, Joao Ferreira came on as a substitute for Renato Tapia.

Siaka Sidibe equalized for Al Wasl in the fifty-eighth minute with a beautiful move and an accurate pass from Serginho inside the Al Ain penalty area, which he followed up strongly into the net.

Al Wasl continued to press, and Pedro Malheiro came close to scoring the third goal in the sixty-fourth minute with a powerful shot from outside the penalty area that went beside the post. Five minutes later, Siaka Sidibe sent a cross inside the Al Ain penalty area, but Mehdi Taremi was unable to follow it up. Sidibe returned in the seventy-second minute with a powerful left-footed shot that was cleared by the Al Ain goalkeeper.

Adryelson Silva snatched the third goal for Al Wasl in the eighty-second minute with a beautiful leap and a powerful header following a beautiful corner kick taken by Pedro Malheiro.