Al Ain make Club World Cup semi-finals

Japan's Kashima Antlers and the UAE's Al Ain have made it to the Club World Cup semi-finals, where they will face Real Madrid and River Plate, respectively.

Kashima Antlers players

Japan's Kashima Antlers have beaten Guadalajara in the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. (AAP)

Host side Al Ain have upset African champions Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to reach the semi-finals of the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

Defender Mohamed Ahmad put Al Ain in front two minutes into the quarter-final on Saturday, getting on to the end of a cross from Rayan Yaslem and scoring from close range.

The UAE champions went 2-0 up in the 16th minute through a Hussein Elshahat strike into the bottom right corner from inside the box and midfielder Bandar al-Ahbabi scored a close-range goal in the 60th minute for 3-0.

Al Ain will play South American champions River Plate of Argentina in Tuesday's semi-final.

"It's a great pleasure to play the winners of the Copa Libertadores... we will try and make it difficult for River," said Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic.

Al Ain, who qualified as champions of the host nation and played in front of 21,333 spectators at their home Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium, piled on the pressure whenever they had the ball.

"When the team is focused on the game like today the result is coming from this discipline, from this concentration... this focus. I'm very, very proud of my team," Mamic said.

In rare scenes for a UAE soccer match, flares were briefly lit in a section of the stadium where Esperance fans were seated shortly after the Tunisian side went 3-0 down.

Japan's Kashima Antlers came from behind to beat Mexico's Chivas Guadalajara 3-2 in Saturday's earlier game, earning a place in Wednesday semi-final against European champions Real Madrid.


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Source: AAP



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