Ali Mabkhout stars as UAE put six past India in a friendly at the Zabeel Stadium

After holding Oman to a 1-1 draw, India suffered their heaviest defeat since 2010, when they were beaten 9-1 by Kuwait. 

The hosts put the pressure on from the beginning of the game and it paid off in the 12th minute, Ali Mabkhout met Fabio Lima’s beautiful cross to comfortably chip the ball over goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh and open the scoring.

Lima was causing India all sorts of problems from the left-hand side, as the visitors’ defence struggled to cope with him all game.

He was in the thick of the action again, when his shot hit the hand of Adil Khan as his side were awarded a penalty. Mabkhout doubled UAE’s advantage from the spot and from then on in, it looked an uphill task for the visitors to manage anything from this game.

The hosts started the second-half brightly, dominating most of the possession with India not posing any real threat at the opposition goal. On the hour mark, Mabkhout sealed his hat-trick after capitalising on an interception to ensure victory.

The striker wasn’t done then, he was enjoying his time in his hometown, this time he turned provider for Khali Al Hammadi to score as the UAE ran away with the game.

Minutes later, it got embarrassing for India as Lima put the visitors out of their misery, scoring his first goal for the national side, before setting up Sebastian Tagliabue who added his name to the scoresheet as the Whites scored six.

The Blue Knights just couldn’t get hold of the game or create many chances. The best move came from Manvir Singh, but his shot was blocked by Ali Khasif as it was deemed their only shot on target the whole game.

The scoreline could’ve been much different if it wasn’t for goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh, who made a number of crucial saves and will be disappointed with the Indian backline opened up too easily through the match.

No matter the current form, if you allow a team of UAE’s standards with this much time and space, with the quality they have got, they’re going to hurt you.

Igor Stimac’s side were clearly no match to the UAE who looked far more superior. It resembles how far behind the team are in Asia and with the World Cup Qualifiers coming up, it’s not a good sign.

India face Qatar, Bangladesh and Afghanistan in their next three qualifying matches in June whilst UAE will host Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.