Abu Dhabi, UAE – Al Ain turned the tables on their hosts Al Dhafra, securing a well-deserved 2-1 victory in their match on Thursday evening, as part of the UAE Pro League competition.
Al Ain visited Al Dhafra at Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Stadium. This match was part of the 12th round of the ADNOC Pro League.
The match began strongly for both teams, with Al Ain managing to score early against Al Dhafra. This occurred in the seventh minute through Hussein Rahimi, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Al Dhafra responded quickly and succeeded in opening the scoring in the 16th minute. This was through Jobson Santos from a penalty kick, which he successfully put into the net.
Al Ain almost came back before the end of the first half, after Kodjo Laba scored a goal in the 41st minute. However, the referee also disallowed it due to offside, and the first half ended with Al Dhafra leading by one goal.
In the second half, Al Ain took control of the game. They managed to score the equalizer in the 60th minute through Kodjo Laba, who received a pass inside the penalty area and fired it directly into the net.
Al Ain were not satisfied with the equalizer, but continued their attacking pressure until they succeeded in scoring the winning goal in the 82nd minute. This came through Nassim Chadli, who followed up on Kaku’s shot and put the ball into the net.
"الزعيم في الصدارة بالنقطة الـ30" 🔝
نهاية المباراة بفوز العين على مُضيفه الظفرة بنتيجة 2-1 في ختام الجولة الـ12 من دورينا 🟣✔️
شاهد الأهداف ⚽🎥#الظفرة_العين#دوري_أدنوك_للمحترفين pic.twitter.com/LIqweqhzqZ
— ADSportsTV (@ADSportsTV) January 8, 2026The match intensified in the final minutes, with both teams making attempts to score. However, no further goals were scored, and the encounter ended with Al Ain winning 2-1.
With this result, Al Ain increased their points tally to 30, further cementing their lead at the top of the UAE league table. Meanwhile, Al Dhafra remain on 15 points in eighth place.
