Trying to put into context a shocking result involving a sports superpower.

Al Ahli 6, Al Ain 3 … in the UAE domestic soccer league.

The Crimson Tide of Bear Bryant or Nick Saban being routed by, say, South Carolina. The Man United of Alex Ferguson going down heavily to Stoke.

That is like Al Ain giving up six to Ahli — or anyone.

Why?

Because Al Ain is the New York Yankees of the UAE. The most fans. The most money.  The greatest history. The most championships. Al Ain doesn’t lose 6-3. To anyone.

Al Ain rolled through the league a year ago, and seemed to be at least as good this year. They have the best Emirati player, the midfielder Omar Abdulrahman, and they have Asamoah Gyan, whom they bought from Sunderland for tons of money. Gyan scored 22 league goals last season, best in the league.

Al Ahli finished in the middle of the standings last time around. So for them to go into Al Ain and put up six on the home team (Al Ain conceded only four home goals all of last season) was shocking.

Grafite did score four of the Ahli goals, and he’s no joke. The man led the Bundesliga in scoring in 2009 while with Wolfsburg, which won the German title that year. They have Luis Jimenez, a very competent Chilean midfielder.

An Emirati named Basheer Saeed scored a remarkable goal for Al Ahli to make it 2-2 (and you can see it at the 2:35 mark of this video), and from there Ahli took control of the game.

But 6-3? That was shocking.

One of my colleagues here at The National, Ahmed Rizvi, suggested Al Ain have not conceded six in a game for at least 20 years.

He also suggested the quality of the match might the highest in UAE history.

The number of world-class players involved, and the goals, and the speed and even the coaches — the Spaniard Quique Sanchez Flores of Ahli, who has boatloads of experience in Spain’s La Liga (he won the Europe League, while at Atletico Madrid), and Cosmin Olaroiu, (a Romanian with lots of experience in the region) produced a match of extraordinary entertainment.

Anyway, the result was a shocker. So emphatic.

And when it was over, the fans of Ahli, a Dubai club, blew up on Twitter, celebrating their victory via tweet and retweet long into the warm UAE night.