Yahoo News 
Sebastian Tagliabue lifts Al Wahda with superb brace against Al Ain
Match-winner Sebastian Tagliabue said his team-mates fought like lions as Al Wahda claimed a thrilling 2-1 win in the Emirates Clasico against reigning champions Al Ain Saturday night.
The Clarets inflicted a first defeat of the season for Zlatko Dalic’s side, while a second victory for them could provide the spark that finally ignites their season.
- #360view: Al Ahli must beat Al Hilal in AFC Champions League
- Asia: Can football help unite South and North Korea?
- EPL: Tottenham Hotspur stun Manchester City
The hosts were the better side, even if they were the beneficiaries of two officiating decisions that could have given the scoreline a very different outcome.
First UAE international defender Hamdan Al Kamali was allowed to stay on the field despite kicking out at Al Ain summer signing Ryan Babel midway through the first half.
Secondly, Tagliabue was marginally offside as he scored his and Wahda’s second goal just before the hour.
Wahda survived a late fightback after Emmanuel Emenike pulled one back with 25 minutes remaining but held on despite the dismissal of Ismail Matar.
“I only scored. I think the team help me a lot,” said Tagliabue, who incredibly netted his ninth and 10th goals of the season.
“I only scored but there were another 10 lions, my team-mates, they won the game.”
The 30-year-old, speaking after the game, was barely audible as delirious home fans waited outside Al Nahyan Stadium to celebrate with their heroes.
“They will be very happy and I hope they enjoy these two weeks without any football,” added Tagliabue.
Javier Aguirre felt his side had been unlucky in previous 1-0 and 3-2 defeats to Al Shabab and Al Jazira respectively, but said his players got the right reward last night.
He said: “We played a good game. Al Ain enjoyed a lot of possession but we struck to a strategy to attack whenever we had the ball. It was a really good performance.”
The Mexican set his side up in a 4-3-3 formation, which stifled the visitors in the opening 45 minutes, star man Omar Abdulrahman cutting a frustrated figure.
The opening goal was taken in typically stylish fashion by Tagliabue, calmly collecting Mohamed Al Akbari’s perfectly weighted lofted pass and tucking past Khalid Essa in the 18th minute.
Following Al Kamali’s brush with Babel, Brazilian midfielder Denilson saw a thunderous effort dip narrowly over Essa’s crossbar.
The champions had the ball in the net on the stroke of half-time, but Ismail Ahmed’s effort was correctly ruled out after an offside Babel had interfered.
The visitors began the second period with purpose, but the hosts sent the majority inside Al Nahyan into euphoria in the 56th minute when Tagliabue netted to make it 2-0.
The validity of it could be questioned but not its beauty.
Jorge Valdivia was the architect, initially sparking the move and then selling a dummy to three Al Ain defenders before slipping in Tagliabue who swept in, despite Essa getting a firm hand to it.
Emenike nodded in Abdulrahman’s free-kick to give the visitors a lifeline and it was a backs to the wall job for the hosts thereafter.
As six minutes of time were added, Matar was shown a straight red for an ugly two-footed lunge on Mohammed Abdulrahman.
Lee Myung-joo’s last second effort was clawed away by Adel Al Hosani, with several home players sinking to the turf in exhaustion as the referee finally put the whistle to his lips. They could have hardly worked harder for three points.
