Al Ahly took a commanding 2-1 lead in their first leg CAF Champions League semi-final against Wydad Atheltic Club with Percy Tau amongst the scorers at the Cairo International Stadium on Sunday evening.
The home side walked into an electrifying atmosphere with 50,000 fans present at the iconic arena in the nation’s capital.
Marcel Koller’s side showed their confidence by playing on the front foot from the first whistle, with the reigning champions seemingly okay with them having the ball.
And in a half was close to 80% possession, it didn’t come as a surprise to see them in the lead at the break, but they were made to graft and wait for that moment of ecstasy.
The livewire, Hussein El Shahat, who bagged two assists on the evening, chased down a mishit through ball, showed his guile and trickery, to make himself an inch of space before whipping in a cross to the far post which Tau headed home past a stationary Youssef El Motie.
It was absolute delirium for the home supporters and the atmosphere went fever pitch, and possibly a key point in the game for Ahly, who had third-choice stopper Youssef El Motie in goal, making his debut in the competition.
But he was rarely forced into a save, as the visitors went closest in the second half through Ayman El Hassouni and Yahia Attiyat Allah but the Morocco international players, both came whiskers away from pulling one back and grabbing a vital away goal.
Ahly did, however, take control of proceedings again after the near scares and were comfortable in the direct style of football deployed by the Botola Pro giants, as Yasser Ibrahim and Mohamed Abdelmonem dealt expertly with the towering Junior Sambou.
But in the final ten minutes, Wydad came alive, and in the context of what transpired, it was likely purely tactical from Vandenbroek.
Substitute Saifeddine Bouhra was given an advanced role and after Ayoub El Amloud found some space in the area with a marauding run, his cut-back deflected to the 23-year-old and he made no mistake with a finish into the top right corner of Shobeir’s net.
It proved to be the last goal of the game as Tau’s late effort to restore their two-goal advantage went narrowly wide of El Motie’s post.
Heading to Casablanca next week with an away goal gives the champions a fighting chance – with the backing of what is set to be a sold out and hostile Stade Mohamed V, where they beat the Club of the Century for the title last season.
