Football lovers turned up in numbers and raised the volume during the first leg at Yokohama International Stadium with a crowd of 53,704 flocking the venue to witness the Marinos’ first-ever appearance in an AFC Champions League final. 

 

It was the second-largest attendance recorded during the AFC Champions League 2023/24 after the Round of 16 encounter between Iranian side Sepahan and Al Hilal SFC in Isfahan where 61,265 gathered to watch the Saudi side’s 3-1 win.  

Mohammed Abbas’ opener for Al Ain was overturned by the Marinos, but the strike was the 29th goal scored by Hernan Crespo’s side in 13 matches during their AFC Champions League campaign. The Emirati side have scored in all but one match – a goalless draw with Nasaf in the first leg of their last 16 tie. 

 

Only Al Hilal SFC, with 30 goals, have scored more than Al Ain in the ongoing edition while fellow finalists Yokohama are in third place with a tally of 23 goals. 

Yan Matheus’ perfectly weighted cross was headed in by Uenaka to begin Yokohama’s comeback against the Emirati opposition in the first leg. With his second assist in as many knockout ties, the Brazilian now has five assists in the competition with only Al Hilal's Mohammed Al Burayk, with six, registering more. 

 

With three goals also to his name, the 25-year-old, whose cross also led to Watanabe’s late winner, has been involved in a total of eight goals with only Soufiane Rahimi (13), Aleksandar Mitrovic (10) and Cryzan (10) involved in more. 

No player created more chances for his team in the first leg than Al Ain’s Kaku. The Paraguayan playmaker, who has contributed four assists so far, created five chances during the 90 minutes in Yokohama – one more than Yan Matheus. 

 

The 29-year-old has also created more chances (28) than any other player in the tournament overall followed by Yan Matheus (25) and will hope to play a crucial role in the second leg as Al Ain try to win their second continental title. 

After Saturday’s result, Al Ain have now lost the away leg in each of the four finals they have taken part in. This includes their title-winning campaign in the inaugural edition in 2003 when they lost 1-0 to BEC Tero Sasana in Bangkok as well as the 2005 and 2016 finals where they finished runners-up to Al Ittihad and Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors respectively. 

 

When the two sides meet again on May 25, the Emirati club will be given hope by the fact they have never lost at home in the final, winning in 2003 and drawing the other two. However, needing a win to lift the trophy for the second time, only a repeat of the inuagural edition will do.

One of Yokohama’s most lethal weapons in Asia has been crosses from wide areas – as seen in their 2-1 comeback win against Al Ain with both their goals coming from crosses floated in by Yan Matheus from the right wing. 

 

The J1 League side have attempted 258 crosses from open play during the tournament – 83 more than Jeonbuk (175) who are in second place. Of Yokohama’s 258 crosses, a tournament-leading 58 crosses proved successful. 

Al Ain full-back Abdoul Traore was involved in nine duels during the first leg and won eight of them – more than any other player. His teammates Bandar Al Ahbabi, Yahia Nader and Matias Palacios came in second having won six duels each in the away outing. 

 

Meanwhile, it was Yokohama’s Ken Matsubara who was involved in the most aerial duels, winning three of the six battles he went into., although Al Ain's Kouame Kouadio and Park Yong-woo won a perfect three from three of their aerial duels.