Al Ain claim record 13th League title

Al Ain players celebrate a goal against Al Nasr in Dubai on Saturday.

Al Ain kept their tryst with destiny, dusting off Al Nasr to put the finishing touches to a unprecedented record 13th Arabian Gulf League title.
The Boss bossed over Al Nasr to clinch the tie 4-0 at Shabab Al Ahli's Stadium in Al Awir on Saturday night to clinch the League, their first in three years. Al Ain had last won the UAE top flight in the 2014-15 season under Croatian Zlatko Dalic.
Since then, Al Ain had finished runners-up to Shabab Al Ahli in 2015-16 and fourth last term, their first season without silverware in many years.
Swedish international Marcus Berg, signed in the summer from Greek club Panathinaikos, showed he was worth the money, firing a hat-trick to send the travelling Al Ain faithful into delirium.
Along with handing Al Ain the title in his first season with the club, Berg perched himself on top of the goalscorers chart with 21 goals.
It sure made for a boisterous trip back to the Garden City for the team as well as the fans. Zoran Mamic's men will receive the Arabian Gulf Shield after the final fixture of the season against Al Dhafra at home at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium.
The players and the staff wore T-shirts with 13 and the words Al Zaeem, Al Ain's nickname in Arabic, printed on it, after the final whistle.
There will be more celebrations at home with the club celebrating their 50th year.
Al Wahda had had a slim chance, had Al Ain lost against Al Nasr and Al Dhafra and The Clarets won against Ajman and Al Jazira. But that slip up from Al Ain never came.
Meanwhile, Ivan Jovanovic suffered his first defeat in eight fixtures since being installed as manager, in place of Cesare Prandelli. The Blues were unbeaten in seven fixtures with six wins after the Serbian had taken over.
The loss, their seventh, left them in fourth, two points behind Al Wasl and the final available AFC Champions League spot.
Al Nasr had a chance to stun Al Ain six minutes into the game after Marcelo Cirino broke away from the right and sprinted in and shot. But his effort was cleared to safety by goalkeeper Khalid Eisa.
But it was Al Ain who drew first blood with Berg tapping in the rebound after shot stopper Ahmed Shambih had failed to fully stop Omar Abdulrahman's shot from the left, on 34 minutes.
Berg then added the second 10 minutes later, his header off Caio's cross, taking a deflection off Shambih and hitting the cross bar before going in.
Berg came close to getting the third on 56 minutes but Shambih did well to keep out his volley from close range.
He was not to be denied a third though as he headed home after substitute Rayan Yaslam had whipped in a delicious cross from the left.
Tsukasa Shiotani slipped one through Shambih's leg with six minutes left but the goal didn't stand as Omar Abdulrahman had committed a foul in the build up to the move.
But substitute Ahmed Khalil put it to bed with the fourth in stoppage time.
james@khaleejtimes.com