Soufiane Rahimi Breaks Al Ain Record in AFC Champions League

Soufiane Rahimi did not just score in Asia on Tuesday night. He rewrote Al Ain history.

Under the lights at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, the Moroccan forward struck in a ruthless 4-0 dismantling of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr in the AFC Champions League Elite opener, a goal that carried far more weight than just padding the scoreline.

It was his 19th for Al Ain in Asian club competitions. One more than Asamoah Gyan. One more than Omar Abdulrahman. Top of the pile, alone.

Rahimi stands where Gyan once ruled

Rahimi walked into the tie level with two club icons on 18 continental goals, sharing a record that had long felt welded to Gyan’s name. The Ghanaian striker’s exploits in purple defined an era, his goals a benchmark for what an Al Ain forward should be on the Asian stage.

One clean finish against Al Nassr, and that benchmark shifted.

The 30-year-old’s strike pushed him clear, giving him outright ownership of a record Gyan had held or shared for years. Abdulrahman, the Emirati playmaker who once carried Al Ain’s creative burden, also slipped behind in the rankings, his 18 now second best.

Now the list reads simply:

• 1. Soufiane Rahimi – 19

Chasing him are legends of the club, not rivals.

Gyan, now retired from professional football, left a legacy that shaped Al Ain’s continental ambitions. Abdulrahman, no longer part of the squad, had long been a symbol of the club’s golden years. Rahimi has stepped into that space and is busy writing his own chapter.

From key man to standard-bearer

This is not a sudden rise. Rahimi has grown season by season into Al Ain’s reference point in Asia, a forward whose influence stretches far beyond the penalty area.

He was central to the club’s run to the AFC Champions League title in the 2023/24 season, and his numbers in continental competition have steadily climbed as Al Ain pushed deeper into the latter stages. The 4-0 statement win over Al Nassr only reinforced the sense that this team still belongs among the elite.

The performance against the Saudi side did more than announce their intent in this new AFC Champions League Elite campaign. It underlined that Rahimi is now the face of Al Ain’s continental project, the man expected to deliver when the stakes rise.

And the record is not a finish line. It is a platform.

With the group stage and knockout rounds ahead, Rahimi has a clear runway to stretch that tally well beyond 19 and leave a mark that will take years to match. Every game from here on adds to a total that already sits above two of the most celebrated names in the club’s modern history.

Gyan’s haul once defined what greatness looked like for an Al Ain striker in Asia. Rahimi has just raised that bar. How far he pushes it will shape how this era is remembered.