Al Ahly earned the result they needed on Saturday with a 3-0 victory over Sudan’s Al-Hilal Omdurman in front of 50,000 supporters at the Cairo International Stadium. Kahraba opened the scoring for the hosts and substitute Hussein El Shahat added two more goals in the second half to advance Ahly to the quarterfinals and eliminate Al-Hilal in heartbreaking fashion. Ahly finish as Group B runners-up, even with Hilal on ten points but winners of the head-to-head tiebreaker.
It was a strong start for the Egyptian club who regularly tested Hilal goalkeeper Issa Fofana in the opening half hour. Kahraba missed a couple of good chances early on but produced a moment of magic in the 25th minute when his first touch from an Ahmed Abdelkader pass took him by Hilal defender Ousmane Diouf before the forward picked out the corner with a clever cushioned shot past Fofana.
Kahraba’s goal inspired the Ahly supporters but Hilal produced some moments of danger through forward Mohamed Abdelrahman and Yaser Muzamil to keep the tension high. However the introduction of Ahly substitutes Hamdi Fathi and El Shahat helped the hosts pull away. In the 64th minute El Shahat received a through pass from Percy Tau and fired his shot through Fofana. El Shahat produced another magical finish for his second goal when he took down Marwan Attia’s lofted pass and maneuvered past two defenders before shooting low past Fofana.
Highlights from the match are below.
