CAIRO (AP) — Goals from Percy Tau and Mahmoud Kahraba gave Al Ahly a 2-1 win over defending champion Wydad in the first leg of the African Champions League final on Sunday.
It’s only a slim advantage for the Egyptian club to take to Morocco for the decisive second leg next Sunday.
Wydad boosted its hopes of retaining the title, and denying Al Ahly a record-extending 11th Champions League crown, when substitute Saifeddine Bouhra swept in a shot from near the penalty spot for Wydad’s crucial away goal to make it 2-1.
Bouhra had come on just four minutes earlier.
The goal changed the picture for Al Ahly and its 60,000 red-shirted fans at Cairo International Stadium. The Al Ahly players left the field looking downcast, with Kahraba covering his face with his jersey.
In contrast, Wydad players applauded themselves, knowing how strong they are at home at their Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca, where they beat Al Ahly 2-0 to win last year’s African Champions League in a one-off final.
The African Champions League has reverted to a two-leg final this year, which was the traditional format for years before a change in the 2019-20 season.
Al Ahly made all the running in the first half, and had a penalty correctly ruled out by VAR — and two other penalty claims turned down — before South Africa international Tau headed home the opener from Hussein El Shahat’s cross deep in added time at the end of the first half.
Kahraba made it 2-0 in the 59th after Wydad goalkeeper Youssef El Motie went hurtling out of his goal to the right of the penalty area to try and cut off a long pass.
He was stranded and El Shahat again provided a cross for Kahraba to hit a shot into an unguarded goal.
At that stage, Al Ahly was pushing for a third, but Yahia Attiyat Allah rattled the post for Wydad with just over 20 minutes to go and the visiting Moroccan team finished stronger.
Bouhra’s goal swung the final back toward Wydad in another battle of Africa’s two best clubs of recent years. Al Ahly and Wydad have shared the last three African Champions League titles.
While Al Ahly has won two of the last three titles, Wydad stopped its run last season and has prevailed on both previous occasions where the two have met in the final.
Last year’s Champions League triumph for Wydad came under coach Walid Regragui, who went on to take Morocco to the semifinals of the World Cup in Qatar, the best performance ever by an African team.
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