Al Ain's Champions League Elite chances suffer further blow

Al Ain’s prospects of advancing to the knockout rounds of the AFC Champions League Elite 2024/25 suffered another blow on Monday as the reigning continental champions slipped to a 2-1 loss at the hands of Saudi Arabia’s Al Ahli at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.

England international Ivan Toney stepped off the bench to score twice in four minutes to maintain Al Ahli’s perfect start to the competition.

Matthias Jaissle’s side moved onto 15 points from the first five games to all-but guarantee their progress to the last 16.

The result left Al Ain, playing their first game in the competition under new boss Leonardo Jardim, rooted to the bottom of the standings in West Asia and, with three matches remaining, their hopes of going through to the next phase of the competition are rapidly disappearing.