A disastrous late error from El Jaish goalkeeper Khalifa Ababacar gifted Al Ain a 3-1 win in the first leg of the AFC Champions League semi-final on Tuesday.
Hosts Al Ain, Asian champions in 2003 and beaten finalists two years later, looked to have taken a major step toward reaching their third regional decider when goals from Douglas and Omar Abdulrahman put them 2-0 up inside the first 21 minutes in Abu Dhabi.
But their task will be considerably harder during the return fixture in Doha next month, after Caio profited from Ababacar's mistake to restore Al Ain's two-goal advantage in injury time.
After a somewhat shaky start from Zlatko Dalic's hosts, Al Ain broke the deadlock in the 16th minute, United Arab Emirates talisman Abdulrahman bursting into the penalty area down the left and chipping a delivery to the back post, where a Douglas header cushioned the ball into an empty net.
El Jaish, who had gone close through Seydou Keita's back-post header in the opening minutes, thought they had breached the opposition's defence as half-time approached, only for Romarinho's goal-bound free-kick to crash against the crossbar.
The visitors did get on the scoresheet seven minutes into the second half, when Ismail Ahmed handled inside the area to give away a penalty. Rashidov, who won the spot-kick, sent Khalid Essa the wrong way to make it 2-1.
