CANBERRA: He has the hair of Marouane Fellaini and he's yet to score a goal, but mop-top star Omar Abdulrahman has become the talk of the Asian Cup after two inspired performances for UAE.
If anyone questioned the 23-year-old's quality, the debate was settled by his inch-perfect chip over Bahrain's defence for what became the tournament's fastest recorded goal.
Abdulrahman picked up the ball mid-way in Bahrain's half, looked up and played a pin-point pass to the feet of Ali Mabkhout, who tucked it away after only 14 seconds.
Abdulrahman went on to become man of the match on Thursday in the eventual 2-1 win, which put the Gulf nation into the quarter-finals with one group match to spare.
His performances are attracting such attention that he's outshining Mabkhout, whose slick conversion of that glorious pass made him the tournament's top scorer with three goals.
Abdulrahman has reportedly attracted interest from English Premier League champions Manchester City, whose owners hail from Abu Dhabi, where he plays for Al Ain.
But Abdulrahman, who says he most looks up to French legend Zinedine Zidane, was taking all the attention in his stride after the win over Bahrain in Canberra.
"I'm very happy for the attention but my goal at this moment is to do our best in the competition," he said late on Thursday.
Abdulrahman is supremely comfortable in the UAE set-up. He has worked with UAE coach Mahdi Ali since 2004 and has grown up with Mabkhout and Ahmed Khalil, who both scored twice in the 4-1 win over Qatar.
Abdulrahman's brother, Mohamed, plays alongside him in the UAE midfield and a third sibling, Khaled, is their team-mate at Al Ain.
"We know each other very well, we are all very close to each other on and off the pitch," Abdulrahman said of his team-mates.
"Ali has three goals and Ahmed has two, so hopefully I can help one of them end up being the competition's top scorer."
After winning their opening two Asian Cup games for the first time ever, the Emiratis face three-time champions Iran in Brisbane on Monday to determine who tops Group C.
All 23 players of UAE's Asian Cup squad play their football domestically but Ali has said that some of his charges deserved to compete at a higher level.
And Abdulrahman joked that if his boss ever ended up coaching in the Australian A-League then he too would have to make the move.
"If the coach wanted me to come here I would not say no!" he declared. If he carries on the way he has been playing, he will have no shortage of offers.
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