CAIRO — Five facts before second-leg of CAF Champions League final in Cairo on Saturday, with Al-Ahly of Egypt and Esperance of Tunisia level on aggregate after goalless first-leg.
Al-Ahly is seeking back-to-back titles a record-extending fourth time after victories in the 2005 and 2006, 2012 and 2013 and 2020 and 2021 seasons. Esperance achieved the feat once, winning in 2018 and 2019.
The stakes are high as both teams vie for the title, with the Egyptian giants seeking to capitalize on their home advantage against the formidable Esperance side in Cairo.
This is the 15th consecutive final from 2010 featuring at least one North African club, with Ahly involved in nine and Esperance in five. Egypt leads the way in Champions League victories with 17 while Tunisia boasts six.
Al-Ahly has scored 19 goals in 13 Champions League matches this season with El-Shahat (five) and Mahmoud Kahraba (four) the most prolific marksmen, but Esperance have managed just nine with Brazilian Yan Sasse claiming three goals.
With the first-leg ending in a goalless draw Ahly will be eager to win at home and clinch their 12th title, while the Esperance aims to surprise the home team.
CAFOnline.com takes a look at some interesting facts and figures ahead of the second-leg clash:
Following their 0-0 draw in the first leg, both Al-Ahly and ES Tunis have become the first teams in CAF Champions League history to keep nine consecutive clean sheets, with ES Tunis facing 88 shots in total since last conceding a goal (v Al-Hilal Omdurman in December) and Al-Ahly facing 116 shots since last conceding (v Young Africans in December).
There were 20 shots (10 each) in the first leg between Al-Ahly and ES Tunis, with just one attempt on target, the most shots in a CAF Champions League match with as few as one on target since the quarter-final in September 2018 between ES Setif and Wydad Casablanca (26 attempts).
Al-Ahly is unbeaten in their last 19 CAF Champions League matches (W12 D7), keeping 16 clean sheets and conceding just three goals.
ES Tunis is unbeaten in their last five CAF Champions League knockout round matches without conceding (W2 D3), they last kept six consecutive clean sheets in such matches in October 2012.
ES Tunis will be looking to win the competition for the first time since 2019, when they beat Wydad AC to secure a second consecutive title.
Al-Ahly will be looking to make it 11 successes for Egyptian sides in the CAF Champions League final (more than twice as many as other nation) while ES Tunis can secure Tunisia their fifth success in the competition, which will be the outright second-most.
Al-Ahly’s Emam Ashour has had more shots (18) without scoring than any other player in the CAF Champions League this season, the last Al-Ahly player to have more attempts without scoring in a single campaign was Mohamed Magdi in 2021-22 (21 shots).
Al-Ahly’s Akram Tawfik made more tackles (5) and won possession (12) more often than any other player in the first-leg against ES Tunis, indeed only TPMazembe’s Ibrahima Keita (35) has attempted more tackles in the CAF Champions League this season than the Egyptian (27).
Al-Ahly has scored four headed goals in the CAF Champions League this season, twice as many as any other side. In fact, since the start of the 2022-23 edition they’ve scored nine headed goals, five more than any other team.
ES Tunis midfielder Yan Sasse has been directly involved in four goals in the CAF Champions League this season (3 goals, 1 assist), only ASEC Mimosas’ Sankara Karamoko has been involved in more (5).
The last player with more goal involvements in a single campaign for the Tunisian side was Sabir Bougrine in 2021-22 (5 – 1 goal, 4 assists).
Discussion about this post