In 2015, the team suffered a humiliating 10-0 defeat to the same opponents in Abu Dhabi.

In this match, Malaysia had no answer to the lethal attacking partnership of Ali Mabkhout and Fabio De Lima, who notched two goals each at the Zabeel Stadium for their second win over Harimau Malaya in the qualifying campaign.

Although coach Tan Cheng Hoe named his strongest XI by fielding all his three naturalised and heritage players, Malaysia struggled to get their game going.

The one bright spot though, was the heroic display of goalkeeper Farizal Marlias, who was called into action as early as the seventh minute to parry a powerful Khalil Ibrahim shot.

Ali, who scored a brace when UAE edged Malaysia 2-1 at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil in September 2019, beat skipper Aidil Zafuan Radzak to a through ball before lobbing it over the onrushing Farizal for the opening goal in the 19th minute.

Malaysia had a glorious chance to make it 1-1 at the tail end of the first half but naturalised player Guilherme De Paula misdirected his header.

Cheng Hoe brought on Syafiq Ahmad and youngster Luqman Hakim Shamsudin but they failed to make their presence felt and it was left to Farizal to singlehandedly thwart UAE’s attacks.

The overworked Farizal was finally beaten again in the 83rd minute when De Lima curled in a shot into the top left corner.

As fatigue set in, Ali and De Lima each netted their second goals in injury time to hand UAE their third win that moved them up to second in Group G on nine points.

Malaysia dropped to fourth despite having nine points – the same as UAE and third-placed Thailand – due to their inferior goal difference.

Harimau Malaya will play Vietnam on June 11 before wrapping up their Group G fixtures against Thailand on June 15.