Al-Ahly Club defeated its Tunisian counterpart, Esperance, in the second leg of the semi-finals of the African Champions League, in the match that brought them together at the Cairo Stadium, to qualify for the Champions League final.
Al-Ahly scored the only goal against Esperance, Hussein Al-Shahat in the 22nd minute.
Al-Ahly Club defeated its counterpart, Esperance, in the first leg, 3-0, in Rades.
Al-Ahly club is awaiting the winner of the second leg match between Sundowns and Wydad Casablanca in the CAF Champions League final.
Al-Ahly coach Marcel Koller outperformed his counterpart, the Esperance coach tactically, and took advantage of Percy Tau’s speed and cunning passes, with Hussein Al-Shahat scoring the only goal of the match.
The Esperance team appeared cohesive in the return match against Al-Ahly, but it missed the fierce attack, missed the high pressure, and left spaces in front of Al-Ahly players.
And Ali Lotfi, Al-Ahly goalkeeper, managed to cross his goal in front of the Esperance club’s attacks, which appeared timidly.
The match began with attempts by Esperance to threaten the Al-Ahly club’s defenses, after which Al-Ahly players stipulated that the ball be in the middle of the field.
Ben Hamouda, the Esperance player, tried to take advantage of a long ball inside the penalty area, which Yasser Ibrahim, Al-Ahly defender, turned away to a corner kick in the third minute.
Percy Tau sent a cunning ball into the penalty area, which Kahraba hit with his foot and hit the crossbar of the Esperance goalkeeper in the fifth minute, and the referee considered it offside.
The referee awarded a free kick against Al-Ahly player Hamdi Fathy after raising his foot in the face of the Esperance player in the seventh minute.
And Percy Tau, the star of Al-Ahly, failed in the eighth minute to catch a ball sent by Marawan Attia inside the penalty area, and caused the Esperance defender to be blocked, so that the match referee counted it as a free kick.
Al-Ahly club dominated the middle of the field in front of Al-Taraji, and Muhammad Ali Bin Ramadan, the player of Bab Souika, almost threatened the defenses of the red giant in the eighteenth minute, but Yasser Ibrahim succeeded in pushing the ball away.
Al-Ahly goal against Esperance
Hussein Al-Shahat scored the first goal in the 22nd minute, after receiving a pass from Percy Tau, to deposit it in the Esperance net.
The referee of the match was forced to stop playing after the fall of Mohamed Togay, the Esperance player, inside the Al-Ahly penalty area, and he underwent treatment.
In the 25th minute, the referee refused to award a penalty kick in favor of Al-Ahly player Percy Tau, after he fell inside the penalty area of the Esperance Club.
Maaloul Najm Al-Ahly passed a cunning ball in the 27th minute, reaching Hussein Al-Shahat, who hit it on top of the crossbar of the Esperance goalkeeper, and the referee considered it offside.
Yasser Ibrahim, Al-Ahly defender, sent a dangerous ball away from Ben Hamida Najm Al-Taraji, in the 30th minute, to a corner kick.
Anis Al-Badri, the Esperance player, failed to exploit the incursion in front of the penalty area for Al-Ahly club, and his teammate Bin Hamouda hit the ball with Yasser Ibrahim’s foot in the 39th minute.
The most famous referee of the match was the yellow card for Al-Ahly player Ali Maaloul, after his contact with one of the Esperance players in the 42nd minute.
The course of the second half between Al-Ahly and Al-Taraji
Elio Diang, Al-Ahly player, hit a powerful ball over the crossbar of the Esperance goalkeeper in the 46th minute.
Hussein Al-Shahat, Al-Ahly player, fell after suffering an injury in the Esperance match, and underwent treatment in the 47th minute.
Anis Al-Badri, the Esperance player, sent a ball into the Al-Ahly penalty area, which Muhammad Ali Bin Ramadan hit with his head over the crossbar of Lotfi, the goalkeeper of the Red Genie, in the 53rd minute.
In the 60th minute, Mohamed Hani sent a ball into the penalty area to Taraji Club, Hamdi Fathy failed to catch it and missed the opportunity to score the second goal.
The Esperance coach was forced to play Moataz Saddam in front of Al-Ahly club in the 61st minute, instead of Anis Al-Badri.
In the 64th minute, Ali Lotfi, Al-Ahly club goalkeeper, succeeded in blocking a dangerous ball inside the penalty area, which was kicked by Ben Hamouda, the Esperance player, from a corner kick.
Kahraba fell in the 68th minute inside the opponent’s penalty area, and Hussein Al-Shahat, the Al-Ahly player, hit it, and Mohamed Togay, the Esperance player, pushed it away from in front of his own goal, to deny the Red Genie the second goal.
Moataz Saddam, the Esperance player, missed the opportunity to equalize in the 71st minute, after receiving a pass from Ben Hamouda inside the Al-Ahly penalty area.
In the 72nd minute, Al-Ahly coach Marcel Koehler pushed player Taher Mohamed Taher to replace Hamdi Fathi and Ahmed Abdel-Qader instead of Hussein Al-Shahat.
Marawan Attia, Al-Ahly player, got the yellow potato in the 74th minute, after committing a mistake against the Esperance player.
In the 85th minute, Al-Ahly defender Yasser Ibrahim hit a powerful ball over the crossbar of the Esperance goalkeeper.
And Ahmed Abdel Qader, Al-Ahly player, missed the opportunity to add the second goal in the 86th minute, after he hit a ball inside the Esperance penalty area, over the crossbar.
