Al Ahly, the Egyptian football giants, have kept their hopes of winning their record-extending 11th TotalEnergies CAF Champions League title alive with a 2-0 victory over Moroccan team Raja Club Athletic in the first leg of the quarter-finals held in Cairo on Saturday night.
Al Ahly’s Mohamed Abdelmonem opened the scoring just before halftime, while Hamdi Fathi scored a brilliant volley in the second half, set up by a lofted ball from Percy Tau.
Despite commanding most of the possession, Al Ahly had a goal disallowed for offside, while Raja Club Athletic had their chances too, with their free-kick saved by Al Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed Elshenawy. The second leg of the fixture will take place in Casablanca next weekend.
In the other game on Saturday in Algiers, Mamelodi Sundowns delivered a convincing 4-1 win against CR Belouizdad in the first leg of their CAF Champions League quarter-final clash.
Peter Shalulile scored two goals and assisted Neo Maema for another, while Cassius Mailula added a late fourth to seal the victory for the South African team.
The game started strongly for Sundowns, with Shalulile scoring the first goal just six minutes into the game from an Aubrey Modiba cross. Shalulile then set up Maema for a powerful shot to double the lead. Belouizdad scored from a corner just before half-time, but it was not enough to spark a comeback.
In the second half, Shalulile scored his second goal six minutes after the restart, and Mailula secured the win in the dying minutes of the match.
The second leg will take place in Pretoria next weekend.
Wydad Casablanca lost to Simba 1-0 in the first leg at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium on Saturday, meaning they will need to overturn the deficit in the second leg in Casablanca next weekend.
Simba took the lead in the 30th minute through Jean Othos’ close-range finish after the ball fell to him from a free-kick.
While the hosts created most of the chances, Wydad came close to an equalizer through Zouhair El Moutaraji’s strike from range in the dying moments of the game, but they were unable to beat Simba goalkeeper Ally Juma.
