Having comfortably sailed through the group stage of the inaugural competition with three victories, the UAE side were pitted against China’s Dalian Shide in a two-legged semi-final affair.
It was somewhat of a step into the unknown for the late Bruno Metsu’s team, given that Asia’s finest outfits had never faced off against one another before in the new format.
But, playing at the Tahnoun Bin Mohamed Stadium, Al Ain made sure they at least put one leg in the final with a thumping first-leg victory.
In front of 20,000 fans, the hosts battled back from a goal down to defeat their Chinese opponents 4-2.
Shide club legend Hao Haidong, who also had a spell with Sheffield United in England, opened the scoring early in the first-half before Ivory Coast hitman Boubacar Sanogo levelled it up from the penalty spot just past the hour mark.
That goal seemed to spark Al Ain into life and two minutes later veteran UAE forward Mohammad Omar slammed home to put his team in front.
Rami Yaslam and Sanogo added further goals before Li Yao pulled a late goal back for the visitors – giving them a glimmer of hope heading into the second-leg.
And while the opening match was packed with drama and goals – nothing could prepare anyone for what was about to happen at the second time of asking.
In front of a jam-packed People’s Stadium crowd in Dalian and devoid of the services of Sanogo through injury, the hosts began the match in a rampant mood.
Wang Peng put them in front but when Rodrigo Fabiano restored parody immediately after the re-start, it was advantage Al Ain again.
The visitors’ 3-5 aggregate lead soon became 3-6 on 65 minutes when Mohammad Omar netted.
But then the match turned.
Zoran Jankovic levelled it up at two-apiece before a quickfire double salvo from Haidong, who by this time was becoming a real thorn in Al Ain’s side, made the score 4-2 on the night and level on aggregate.
The clash was heading to extra-time and penalties given that both sides had scored the same amount of away goals at each other’s stadiums.
But then, on-loan Iranian star Farhad Majidi wrote his name into Al Ain folklore as he scored with just three minutes to go – making it 4-3 on the night and 6-7 to Al Ain on aggregate.
The away side held on to book their final spot with BEC Tero Sasana.