Goals from Mohamed Abdelmonem and Hamdi Fathi gave Egypt’s Al Ahly a 2-0 CAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg victory over Raja CA on Saturday evening at the Cairo International Stadium. The Egyptian Premier League leaders clinically took their opportunities against the visitors from Morocco and now Ahly have a two-goal lead to defend when the teams meet again for the second leg in one week. Raja have now failed to win in their last six meetings with the Egyptian giants.
The visitors from Morocco attempted to grab control of the match early on. Mohamed Nahiri’s free kick inside the opening five minutes was well hit but Al Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy got across quickly to palm the ball away. Ahly responded with a firm shot from Hussein El Shahat in the 11th minute but Raja’s Anas Zniti held the ball without trouble. It appeared that the first half would end even but Ahly scored with the final touch when an excellent cross from Maâloul set up Abdelmonem’s powerful header that Zniti could only push into the side of the net.
Ahly seized full control of the match after halftime and El Shenawy had little to worry about in the second half. Percy Tau nearly doubled the lead for the hosts in the 74th minute when Mohamed Hany slipped the South African in for clear shot but Zniti did brilliantly to close down and make the save. The Red Devils would get a much desired second ten minutes later, however, when Tau looped his pass to find the run of substitute Fathi whose powerful shot flew by Zniti at his near post.
Highlights of the first leg are below.
