The Wydad Athletic Club maintained its hopes of retaining the CAF Champions League title against its Egyptian host Al-Ahly, after scoring a late goal in the match that ended in favor of the landlords, with a score of 1-2, this evening, Sunday, at Cairo International Stadium, in the first leg of the final.
Al-Ahly advanced with two goals through its South African player, Percy Tau, with a header in the calculated time, instead of lost for the first half, and Mahmoud Kahraba in the 59th minute, before Seif El-Din Bohra scored the valuable goal of Wydad in the 86th minute.
It is scheduled that the Red Castle team will host its Egyptian counterpart next Sunday at the “Mohamed V Boat” in Casablanca, as part of the second leg, to decide the champion of the League of Champions competition.
The Libyan referee, Moataz Al-Shalmani, awarded a penalty kick to Al-Ahly in the 30th minute, due to the presence of a handball, but it was canceled after returning to the “Var” technique.
Ayman Al-Hassouni missed the opportunity for a goal for Wydad in the 40th minute, after he hit a powerful ball from inside the penalty area, but it was successfully saved by Al-Ahly goalkeeper Mustafa Schubert.
Wydad needs to win with a goal without a response in the second leg next week to ensure crowning the African title for the second year in a row, while a draw is enough for Al-Ahly of Egypt to win the championship.
Today, the meeting was moderated by the Libyan referee Moataz Al-Shalmani, with the assistance of the Libyan Attia Issa, the Tunisian Khalil Hassani, and the fourth Chadian referee, Hajj Muhammad Al-Lahou, while the Tunisian Haitham Kirat, the Algerian Mustafa Ghorbal, and the Cameroonian Fomo Karen were present in the assistant video technique, “FAR”.
Wydad had qualified for the final of the African Championship after crossing the hurdle of Mamelodi Sun Downs, South Africa, in the semi-finals, where they tied without goals in the first-leg match in Morocco, then tied back in South Africa with a score of 2-2, while Al-Ahly reached the final after beating Tunisian Esperance in the first leg. And forth with scores of 3-0 and 1-0.