ALGIERS – Al-Ahly of Egypt secured a place in the CAF Champions League final after a 2-2 draw with ES Setif at Stade du 5 Juillet in Algiers Saturday night.
South African Percy Tau delivered the magic once again as the defending champions drew 2-2 with ES Setif in Algiers to progress to the final.
The Red Devils progressed with a 6-2 aggregate score, having won the first leg 4-0 in Cairo last weekend.
Setif had come from a goal down to lead 2-1 and dream of a huge comeback, but Mohamed Sheriff scored the equalizer at the stroke of 90 minutes to secure a draw.
The result means Pitso Mosimane’s Red Devils remain remain on course for a third Champions League trophy in a row and a record extending 11th overall.
They will face off with Morocco’s Wydad Athletic Club on Monday May 30 in what is expected to be a mouth watering finale.
Wydad booked their place in the final on Friday with a 4-2 aggregate triumph over Angola´s Petro Atletico. The second-leg of their semi-final in Casablanca ended 1-1.
The clash of Ahly and Wydad will be a repeat of the 2017 Champions League final, which was won 2-1 on aggregate by the Moroccan side.
The Casablanca club was also regular (and antagonising) opponents for Mosimane when he was in charge of South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns.
Any slim hope Setif had of mounting a comeback in this semifinal were quickly extinguished, as a fast-starting Ahly claimed the lead in just the second minute: Ahmed Abdelkader played a neat one-two with Percy Tau before stabbing a shot beyond goalkeeper Sofiana Khedairia to make it 1-0 on the night and 5-0 overall.
Tau who scored twice and assisted twice in the first leg played part by assisting both goals for Ahly.
The Egyptian giants were ahead after exactly a minute and 51 seconds when Tau played a quick interchange of passes with Abdelkader before the latter finished off superbly inside the box.
It was a dream start for Ahly and a huge blow for Setif who now had to score more than six goals to overturn the massive deficit.
But the home side gave a fight and wanted to bow out with respect, even if they stood a chance of failing in their quest to score six at home. They equalized at the stroke of half-time through Ahmed Kendouci’s brilliant strike.
The midfielder drifted to the edge of the box from the left before striking a belter of a shot that came off the underside of the bar and into the net.
In the second half, the home side continued with their fight and they went into the lead on the hour mark through another brilliant strike, this time Riad Benayad coming in with the goals.
The forward struck another long range shot that dipped just infront of Mohamed Elshenawy, evading his grasp.
Despite increased efforts to score a third, Ahly defended well. They put the game to rest at the stroke of fulltime when Tau played another brilliant through pass to Sheriff, the number 10 doing the simple task of sliding it beyond the keeper.
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