Al Jazira showed tremendous fighting qualities to recover from two goals down to earn a draw with Al Ain at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium.

A first-half brace from Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan was cancelled out after the break with strikes from Ecuadorian Felipe Caicedo and UAE international Ali Mabkhout.

A share of the points moves Al Jazira into third in the league standings, although fourth-placed Al Wahda could climb above their Abu Dhabi rivals if they win or draw tonight against Dubai Club.

The result for Al Ain all but ends their hopes of Champions League football next season. While still mathematically possible, The Boss will need all four clubs above them – Al Nasr, Wahda, Jazira and Shabab – to lose their final matches of the season.

The next time Jazira and Al Ain face each other will be in a two-legged tie in the AFC Champions League knockout stages, and if Thursday night’s encounter is anything to go by, fans will be in for a real treat.

Al Ain broke the deadlock with 24 minutes gone when Gyan over-powered defender Musallem Fayez to poke home a long-ball. It was the Ghana captain’s 27th goal of the season.

Gyan’s 28th arrived 18 minutes later when midfielder Yassine El Ghanaasy’s diagonal ball caught out Al Jazira’s high defensive line and found an unmarked Gyan, who finished with a close-range tap-in.

As the two sides went in for the interval, Al Ain had replaced their opponents in third place, with Jazira dropping down to sixth. That is how tight the race for top four places is.

However, Jazira began their fight-back in the 67th minute thanks to some fine work on the right wing from Abdulla Qasem. The Emirati forward bolted down the flank, cut inside to beat Mohanad Salem and squared the ball across the box to an unmarked Caicedo, who tapped in an easy finish.

Al Ain’s hopes of holding on to victory were dashed when – with 10 minutes remaining – Fawzi Fazyez was given his marching orders for a second yellow card. UAE star Mabkhout stepped up to take the resulting free-kick and curled his effort into the top corner.

The two sides next square off on Tuesday at Al Jazira’s Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium before Al Ain host the return leg of their Asian showdown a week later on May 13.

Elsewhere, Al Nasr kept alive their outside hopes of a top-four place with a close-fought 2-1 victory over Al Dhafra at the Maktoum Stadium.

UAE midfielder Habib Fardan opened the scoring in the 38th minute before Dhafra striker Makhete Diop equalised with 12 minutes remaining. Nasr secured all three points with two minutes left on the clock through Mahmoud Khamis.

Meanwhile, Al Shabab missed the chance to secure second spot after slumping to a shock defeat at Emirates Club.

Jamal Maroof opened the scoring for Emirates midway through the first half before Nasser Masood equalised 12 minutes after the break. Rodrigo scored the first of his two goals to put Emirates back in front only for Adeilson to level the scores.

But Rodrigo secured all the win for Emirates just thee minutes after Adeilson's strike.