At the dawn of Wednesday, Crowe ended a three-game goal drought with a bang and helped Ainas to a 5-1 thumping at home to last year's champions, Aaan, to make it a third consecutive AFC Champions League title and avenge the disappointment of the previous edition's elimination in the last eight.
Prior to the match, Ainas had won three consecutive matches, reversing the original adversity, and today's match has galvanized the team's fighting spirit. Talisca started the scoring in the first five minutes, and the Saudis were on the attack. After Shadi Owaini's long-range shot, Crowe added a timely goal to break the scoring drought. It also marked his 908th career goal as Portugal's 39-year-old.
UAE's Al Ain, on the other hand, had a bad day, with midfielder Kaddosu scoring an own goal and trailing by three goals at the end of the first half. In the 56th minute, midfielder Park Yong-woo's long-distance shot bounced off the goalpost, and goalkeeper Bintu scored a goal to bring back a goal for Aaan.
As the match came to an end, Ainas once again sealed a 5-1 win with goals from 19-year-old Brazilian star Wesley and Talisca. With three wins and a draw from four matches in the AFC Champions League this season, Aynas moved up to third place in the West Asian zone, but remain two points behind Hilal and Jeddah Al-Ari. After the match, Crowe took to social media with just two words, "Big win." , which seemed to say he was very happy with his performance.
