During a press conference held by the former coach of the team "Al-Ain", Portuguese Leonardo Jardim, after the defeat by the Qatari "Rayyan" (1-2), statements of the coach about the crisis, which he is experiencing, were reflected, and which led to the missed opportunity to secure the title of AFC champion, won in the last season. This occurs in the continuation of a series of unsuccessful results, which also resulted in elimination from the Cup of the President of the UAE and the Cup of Professional League (Abu-Dhabi Islamic Bank Cup), as well as a significant drop from the group of teams fighting for the title of champion of the Professional Football League ADNOC.
Jardim noted that the reasons for the crisis in the team include a lack of time for implementing cardinal changes, which would return the team to its brilliance, disappeared since the beginning of the season, as well as individual mistakes that proved costly. The coach noted that it was necessary to achieve some progress in the Professional Football League, stating: "In my opinion, we were unable to implement significant changes, despite some progress achieved in the League."
Responding to a question about his responsibility for the team's exit from all tournaments, Leonardo Jardim did not shy away from his role but indicated unwillingness to accept indirect criticism, confirming that he bears responsibility as a coach, while pointing out double standards in football, saying: "Of course, I bear the responsibility because any coach bears responsibility for poor results, but sometimes the victory is attributed only to the players."
The "celebrity" under the management of the Portuguese coach occupies the fourth place in the Professional League table with 23 points, but the gap has increased due to failures in some matches, which confirms his belief that "Al-Ain" is still far from the desired level, hinting at the need for timely adjustments during the current winter transfer window. Jardim also highlighted one of the main weaknesses of the team, stating that: "The match against Qatari "Rayyan" was a significant step equal, however, we made mistakes in the squad, which led to conceding two goals."
Since the beginning of the season, squad errors have become a clear problem for "Al-Ain", along with the fact that the level of the opponent Khalid Aissa. The team is leading in the championship in the listing of strongest attacks, scoring 36 goals, but suffers in defense, conceding 23 goals, making it the second weakest defense among the six best teams.
