Kuala Lumpur: El Jaish’s illustrious Brazillian striker Romarinho (pictured) has been named the Toyota Player of the Week for the semi-final second leg of the 2016 AFC Champions League after impressing in his team’s 2-2 home draw against Al Ain.
The recognition comes as some consolation to the Brazilian striker after his team were eliminated from the competition 5-3 on aggregate after a 3-1 loss in the semi-final first leg.
Al Ain had opened the scoring in Doha, with Omar Abdulrahman netting in the second half. However, Romarinho, who had been testing goalkeeper Khalid Eisa throughout the match, dragged his team back into the contest with a well-taken brace as he scored in the 67th and 81st minutes.
First the forward’s shot from the edge of the area took a deflection off Ismail Ahmed and wrong-footed Eisa in the Al Ain goal. Fifteen minutes later, El Jaish took the lead and were one goal away from forcing overtime as Romarinho found himself in a similar position, making no mistake with a skidding drive into the bottom corner that left Eisa rooted to the spot.
The former Corinthians striker completed 21 out of 25 passes and won two duels for a 7.30 rating to top the Toyota standings for the week.
Not far behind was Al Ain’s Mohamed Abdulrahman who put his own stamp on the match with a stoppage-time equaliser to extinguish El Jaish’s faint hopes of completing a fightback and secure Al Ain’s progress to a third continental final.
The United Arab Emirates international was only on the pitch for half an hour but completed nine out of 12 passes and won two duels to compile a 7.25 rating and delight the Al Ain fans with his late impact.
In the other semi-final second leg match, FC Seoul defeated Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2-1 in at home but were unable to prevent a 5-3 aggregate loss and elimination from the competition. Striker Adriano scored the opener in the 38th minute to equal Muriqui’s tournament record haul of 13 goals before defender Ko Kwang-min’s late winner in injury time ensured the capital side would leave with their heads held high.
Both players are next in the Toyota Player of the Week standings with identical 6.7 ratings.
Adriano’s four duels won were significant while Ko’s 25 minutes on the pitch saw him complete five out of seven passes to add to his late winner.
Rounding off the standings in fifth place this week is Al Ain’s Caio, who assisted Omar Abdulrahman’s opener and completed a whopping 31 out of 41 passes.
