ALKHOBAR: The mood has shifted in Al-Ittihad’s camp over the past seven days. When Youssef En-Nesyri scored a last-gasp free-kick last Monday to give his side their first victory of this season’s AFC Champions League Elite campaign, after two consecutive wins in the Saudi Pro League, it seemed like they might have put the 2-1 home defeat by Shabab Al-Ahli of the UAE on Matchday 2 behind them.

However, a disappointing 1-1 draw with winless, bottom-of-the-table Abha in the SPL on Friday stunned fans, and so expectations were mixed ahead of Monday’s visit to Jeddah by another Emirati side, the undefeated Al-Ain, for Matchday 4 of the Champions League.

Even though Al-Ittihad were coming off a bad result in the domestic league, surely they must have learned their lesson from a disheartening defeat to Shabab Al-Ahli in the continental competition?

That proved, most decisively, not to be the case for Jens Wissing and his squad. The German head coach decided to test a new setup as he attempted to counter Al-Ain’s seemingly unbreakable 5-3-2 formation with a 5-3-2 of his own: Georginio Wijnaldum and Houssem Aouar played either side of anchor man Dion Lopy, while Steven Bergwijn played off En-Nesyri up front, with George Ilenikhena on the bench.

Perhaps the bravest choice in the lineup was positioning winger Marwan Al-Sahafi at right wing-back — and it ultimately proved to be a double-edged sword. The upside was that he broke through behind Al-Ain’s left wing-back, Rafael Rodrigues, to score Al-Ittihad’s first in the 53rd minute. The downside was that it came after Al-Ain had scored twice as a result of his awkward positioning when defending.

In the 16th minute, a cross from Abdoul Traore from the right half-space toward the edge of the six-yard box found Giorgios Giakoumakis, who easily won the header ahead of Al-Sahafi and forced goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic into a diving save. Unfortunately for the Serbian, his stop fell to Kaku, and the Paraguayan, unmarked near the byline, guided the ball into the far corner.

That right half-space was the source of another goal just before half-time, with Kaku this time turning provider. He delivered a cross that fell to Rodrigues, far removed from the marking of Al-Sahafi, and the Portuguese full-back’s volleyed cross curved toward the far post, where Rajkovic misread its trajectory and failed to keep it out.

After Al-Sahafi reduced the deficit, the fans perked up; as had been the case in their match against Shabab Al-Ahli, the hosts were now just a goal away from a comeback.

While three weeks ago the Emirati opposition was content to cling on for a narrow 2-1 win, this time Al-Ain added to the scoreline. Their third goal came just five minutes after Al-Sahafi’s goal, when Houssine Rahimi was released down the right flank in the 58th minute and his cross was deflected by defender Jan-Carlo Simic, the ball looping off his foot, over Rajkovic and into his own net.

Wissing turned for help to this season’s revelation, Ilenikhena, who came on for Al-Sahafi in the 67th minute. However, he could not sharpen a blunt Al-Ittihad attack on what was another forgettable continental night.

His absence from the starting lineup was part of a pattern: Wissing has managed the Nigerian’s minutes carefully all season, and on a night when Al-Ittihad were in desperate need of goals, Ilenikhena was left watching from the sidelines until they had conceded a third.

In the end, it was Al-Ain who scored to seal the game in the 90th minute, after Baba Bello Ilou was brought down in the box by substitute Muath Faqihi and the referee awarded a penalty. Matias Palacios converted to give Al-Ain a 4-1 win that maintained their 100 percent record in the competition this season.

Al-Ittihad now sit in 10th place on four points, with four games left in the league stage to recover and move up into the top eight who will progress.

Another Emirati side, Al-Wasl, also scored four on Monday to defeat Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya of Iraq in a 4-3 thriller at the Zabeel Stadium in Dubai. Saudi side Al-Qadsiah went one better, bouncing back from a 1-1 home draw against Al-Sadd last week to thrash Al-Gharafa 5-0 in Qatar.

In the night’s other matches, defending champions Al-Ahli’s problems continued, as they followed up a devastating 6-1 Saudi Pro League defeat at the hands of Al-Shabab on Friday with a 0-0 draw in Doha against Al-Sadd, which dropped them down to fourth place on eight points, while Tractor of Iran and Neftchi of Uzbekistan played out a 2-2 draw in Oman.