ACL MD3: Al Ain 3-1 Tractorsazi Tabriz

AFC –  AL AIN, Asamoah Gyan scored twice as inaugural winners Al Ain returned to winning ways in the AFC Champions League after recording a 3-1 win over Iran’s Tractorsazi Tabriz on Tuesday.

Ghanaian striker Gyan (pictured) set the 2003 champions on their way after 16 minutes at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium before midfielder Mohamed Abdulrahman added a second for the home side.

And despite Milad Fakhroddini reducing the deficit for Tractorsazi before half-time, Gyan restored Al Ain’s two-goal advantage in the second half to ensure the reigning Emirati champions bounced back from last week’s 2-1 defeat by Al Ittihad in Saudi Arabia.

And with Lekhwiya beating Al Ittihad 2-0 in Qatar, Al Ain find themselves two points clear at the top of the Group C table at the halfway stage ahead of next month’s return fixture in Iran against a Tractorsazi side who saw their unbeaten record ended in Al Ain on Tuesday.

Having suffered a first defeat of the campaign in Saudi Arabia last week, back on home soil Al Ain made another fast start just as they had done against Lekhwiya last month and took the lead after 16 minutes as Ismail Ahmed capitalised on a mix-up inside the Tractorsazi six-yard area to set-up Gyan and the striker made no mistake from close range.

Tractorsazi, though, were unlucky not to be back on level terms just two minutes later as Mehdi Kiani rattled the Al Ain crossbar from distance.

And Al Ain eventually took full advantage to double their lead seven minutes before half-time as Gyan turned provider to cross for Mohamed Abdulrahman to beat Tractorsazi goalkeeper Davoud Sofiani with a first time effort.

But there was still time for Tractorsazi to reduce the deficit four minutes later as Ahmed this time made a mistake inside the penalty area from Ali Karimi’s ball forward and Fakhroddini expertly found the net.

The visitors, though, failed to make further inroads in the second half and with 17 minutes remaining Gyan beat the Tractorsazi offside trap from Omar Abdulrahman’s pass and the Ghanaian sealed the three points for Al Ain.