Egypt’s Al-Ahly will meet Morocco’s Wydad again tonight at 10pm (CLT), in the second leg of the CAF Champions League final at Mohammed V Stadium in Casablanca, Morocco.
This will be the third time the two rivals face off in the final.
Widely known by the name Red Devils, Al-Ahly want to make a record by winning the 11th African crown.
They drew first blood against Wydad, edging them out 2-1 at Cairo International Stadium in the first leg of the CAF Champions League final last Sunday.
Percy Tau and Mahmoud Kahraba scored a goal in either half from a pair of Hussein Elshahat assists as the Red Devils edged closer to the title.
However, Wydad gave themselves a good chance with an away goal, with substitute Said EddineBouhra scoring with four minutes left to keep the tie within reach for the return fixture.
This is the fourth time in a row that Al-Ahlyplaythe final of the Champions League, and the eighth in 12 years, underlying their status as one of the strongest teams in the continent.
Al-Ahly started their journey to the final in the second preliminary round, where they faced off with Tunisia’s US Monastir, edging them out 4-0 on aggregate to make the group stages. They won 1-0 in Tunisia, before completing the job in Cairo with a 3-0 victory.
The Red Devils were drawn in a tough Group B where they faced off with South Africa’s MamelodiSundowns, Sudan’s Al Hilal and Cameroon’s Coton Sport.
They just but managed to squeeze into the quarter finals after qualifying on the final day with a 3-0 win over Hilal. They edged the Sudanese side out on head to head record. Hilal would have completed the job in the previous match day, had they converted a last minute penalty against Sundowns.
The Egyptian giants only lost two matches in the group, 5-2 against Sundowns and 1-0 against Hilal, both away from home. They drew with the South Africans in Cairo (2-2) and beatCoton Sport home (4-0) and away (3-0).
In the last eight, Ahly edged out Morocco’s Raja Club Athletic, winning 2-0 in Cairo and drawing 0-0 in Casablanca to progress to the semi-finals.
They faced Tunisia’s Esperance in the semis, and finished off the job in the first leg in Rades where they won 3-0 and wrapped it up with a 1-0 victory at home in Cairo for a 4-0 aggregate score.
Ahly’s results during the tournament
Second preliminary round:
US Monastir 0-1 Al Ahly, Al Ahly 3-0 US Monastir
Group Stage:
Al Ahly 3-0 Coton Sport, Al Hilal 1-0 Al Ahly, Al Ahly 2-2 MamelodiSundowns, MamelodiSundowns 5-2 Al Ahly, Coton Sport 0-4 Al Ahly, Al Ahly 3-0 Al Hilal
Quarter finals:
Al-Ahly 2-0 Raja Club Athletic, Raja Club Athletic 0-0 Al Ahly
Semi finals:
Esperance 0-3 Al Ahly, Al Ahly 1-0 Esperance
Morocco’s Wydad Athletic Club are seeking to win their fourth TotalEnergies CAF Champions League title, and topple Egyptian rivals Al Ahly for the second consecutive time, having beaten them in last season’s final.
Wydadare looking to add to their trophy cabinet, having won the title in 1992, 2017 as well as last season.
The Moroccans are facing Al-Ahly in the final for the third time and in the previous two, they have emerged champions. When they met in 2017 in a two-legged final, they drew 1-1 in Cairo and won 1-0 in Casablanca. They hope to be third time lucky this season as well.
Wydad will only need in the least a 1-0 victory to retain their crown and if Al-Ahlyscore, they will have to put three more in the back of the net to earn victory.
Wydad started their campaign this season on a wrong footing, losing 2-1 away to Nigeria’s Rivers United, but they bounced back in resounding manner, winning the return leg 6-0 in Casablanca to storm into the group stages.
They were drawn in Group A where they faced off with JS Kabylie of Algeria, Angola’s Petro de Luanda and DR Congo’s AS Vita Club.
They finished top of the group with 13 points off four wins, a draw and a loss. They beat Petro de Luanda home and away, winning 1-0 in Casablanca and 2-0 in Luanda. They also won at home against AS Vita Club (1-0) and JS Kabylie (3-0).
Kabylie was the only side to hand them defeat, having beaten them 1-0 in Algiers. They also drew away to Vita (0-0).
In the quarter finals, Wydad were made to work by Tanzanian giants Simba SC, before beating them 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw. They lost 1-0 in Dar es Salaam before winning by the same margin at home in Casablanca.
They also had to work their socks off in the semis, as they edged out South Africa’s MamelodiSundowns on the away goal rule. They played to a 0-0 draw at home in Morocco, before fighting for a 2-2 stalemate in Pretoria to sneak through to the final.
Wydad’s path to the final
Second preliminary round:
Rivers United 2-1 Wydad, Wydad 6-0 Rivers United
Group stage:
Wydad 1-0 AS Vita Club, JS Kabylie 1-0 Wydad, Wydad 1-0 Petro Atletico, Petro Atletico 0-2 Wydad, AS Vita Club 0-0 Wydad, Wydad 3-0 JS Kabylie
Quarter-final:
Simba 1-0 Wydad, Wydad 1-0 Simba Tanzanian (Wydad won 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate tie).
Semi-final:
Wydad 0-0 MamelodiSundowns, MamelodiSundowns 2-2 Wydad. (Wydad qualified on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate tie).
