Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Al Ain: Al Ain assistant coach Borimir Perkovic blamed his side’s inability to turn their first half dominance into additional goals for bringing the club’s dream of a second AFC Champions League title to an end on Saturday evening.
The 2003 winners of the continental club championship were held to a 1-1 draw by Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors in front of their own fans at Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium but, after slipping to a 2-1 defeat in the first leg in Korea Republic last week, Al Ain lost 3-2 on aggregate to the K League Classic side.
Han Kyo-won gave Jeonbuk the lead against the run of play in the 30th minute before Lee Myung-joo levelled the scores four minutes later, but a missed penalty from Brazilian forward Douglas in the final minutes of the opening period ultimately cost Al Ain.
The home side’s difficulties were increased by coach Zlatko Dalic’s sending off just moments before the half time whistle side and Jeonbuk held on to win a second continental club championship.
“It was not the same without Zlatko in the second half on the bench, it would have been different although we had good communication,” said Perkovic.
“We tried, we gave our all but we didn’t have luck. We lost the game in the first half because we had, I think, five excellent chances. We lost the game in the first 45 minutes.”