Egyptian giants Al-Ahly have claimed a record tenth TotalEnergies CAF Champions League title on Saturday after overcoming Kaizer Chiefs of South Africa 3-0 in Casablanca, successfully defending the trophy claimed last year in beating Zamalek.
Cairo club’s fans were left celebrating the famous “Al-Ashra” long into the night thanks to goals from Mohamed Sherif, Magdy Afsha and Mohamed Elsoulia, with the Chiefs having to play the second part of the game with 10 men after Happy Mashiane was sent off just before halftime.
The win means Pitso Mosimane was celebrating his third title as coach and second with Al-Ahly, having been in charge last season as well.
The early stages of the match saw few chances; Samir Nurkovic curdling strike for the Chiefs after a quarter of an hour flying straight into the goalkeeper’s arms.
Meanwhile, Husein Elshahat had a sight of goal for Al-Ahly when a corner was played to the edge of the 18-yard box in the 20th minute but his shot cleared the bar.
The turning point of the game came at the stroke of halftime when Mashiane was sent off for dangerous play against Tawfik Akram. An initial yellow card was turned to red on the advice of VAR.
Al-Ahly promptly exploited numerical advantage in the second half, taking the lead only eight minutes after the restart when Akram sent Sherif through with a fine ball and the forward dinked the ball over Daniel Akpeyi.
The Egyptian side made it 2-0 in the 64th minute. Hesitancy by Akpeyi and defender Eric Mathoho allowed Mohamed Taher to pick up the ball before passing to Afsha, who exchanged passes with Sherif before slotting the ball into the net.
Al-Ahly put the game to bed 10 minutes later with a killer third goal when Sheriff picked the ball on the edge of the Chiefs’ area and cleverly played back heel pass to Elsoulia, who curled a stunning strike past Akpeyi.
