Ten days after Malcom helped Al Jazira recover from two goals down at Kalba, he found himself with another deficit to repair. This time there was less of the match left and rather more to gain. Muharraq had taken a two goal lead into the interval in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, leaving the home side facing their first defeat in the AFC Champions League Two group stage. By the end, Malcom had scored three times and helped create the other goal in a 4 to 2 win.

Seven points from three games is a good return for Al Jazira, who now lead Group B by three points. The manner of the victory gives Cosmin Olaroiu something to enjoy as well as something to revisit. His team have enough attacking quality to change a difficult evening very quickly. They have also spent two of their recent matches trying to undo the damage of falling two goals behind, with Malcom central to both recoveries.

The first half against Muharraq was a particularly uncomfortable way to reach that position. Abdulwahab Al Malood scored twice, each time finishing into an empty net. For the opener, he followed up after Juninho’s attempt came off the advancing Ersin Destanoglu. The second came when the goalkeeper and Willyan Rocha failed to deal with a ball through Al Jazira’s high defensive line. Al Malood was able to take advantage again, and the Bahrain side had an advantage that would have changed the group considerably had it lasted.

For Olaroiu, those two openings will be difficult to put aside. Both left Al Malood with an empty goal, an unusually generous invitation for an opponent playing away from home. A goalkeeper coming out to intervene needs the defenders around him to share his understanding of the danger. Al Jazira’s response after the interval rescued the result, but it cannot make that earlier confusion less important.

Malcom made the recovery possible early in the second half. A penalty following Ahmed Bughammar’s handball gave him the first opportunity, which he took by sending Vladan Dekic the wrong way. Soon afterwards, Milson supplied a cross from the left and Malcom arrived at the far post to equalise. Having spent the interval two goals behind, Al Jazira were back on level terms with enough time remaining to pursue the win rather than settle for the relief of a point.

There was more to his contribution than finishing. Malcom supplied Bruno Conceicao for the goal that put Al Jazira ahead in the 68th minute, a curling effort from outside the area. Four minutes later, Bruno returned the favour with a pass from the left for Malcom to complete his hat trick. Between them, the two players turned the recovery into a victory. The exchange also gave the scoreline a useful detail: Al Jazira’s most productive player on the night was involved in making a chance for somebody else before receiving one back.

Their previous Asian win had required patience of another kind. Against Arkadag earlier this month, Malcom’s penalty was cancelled out and Al Jazira needed Nermin Mujkic’s goal in added time to win 2 to 1. Before that came a goalless draw with Golgohar Sirjan in Tajikistan. The sequence has taken them steadily towards a favourable position, but neither of the victories was comfortable for much of the evening. Their seven points reflect an ability to finish matches well as much as an ability to make them straightforward.

The domestic comparison is still recent enough to be useful. At Kalba on 18 October, Al Jazira conceded twice inside the opening eight minutes. Malcom pulled one back before Vinicius Mello equalised late in the game, after Kalba had been reduced to ten players by an injury with their substitutions already used. That point took Al Jazira to the top of the ADNOC Pro League on 14 points. It was a valuable recovery, although the circumstances were different from Wednesday’s and should not be folded into a single explanation for how they play.

What the two matches do share is the amount of work required after a poor start. The attacking players have answered that demand, earning four points from positions which could have produced none. In a domestic league where only two points separated the leading six clubs after six rounds, those recoveries have real value. The same tight margins are a reason to seek fewer of them. A team with ambitions in more than one competition will have evenings when the chances do not fall as kindly or the finishing does not arrive in such a concentrated spell.

For Muharraq, the result leaves a different task. They remain on three points, behind Arkadag on four, while Golgohar have two. Their first half in Abu Dhabi showed they could hurt the group leaders, but four goals conceded after the break turned a promising away performance into a missed opportunity. With the return meeting scheduled for 4 November in Bahrain, neither side has to wait long to see whether the lessons from this match have been taken into the next one.

Al Jazira will approach that game with a useful advantage and a forward who has shaped both home wins. There is no need to diminish Wednesday’s comeback to recognise why Olaroiu might prefer a quieter route through the return fixture. Malcom has shown what he can do when his team need rescuing. Giving him more evenings in which he can build on a lead would be a worthwhile next step.