A 90th-minute own goal by Al Ahly’s Yasser Ibrahim earned the South African team’s place in the CAF Champions League final against Pyramids, a second-ranked Egyptian club.
After a 0-0 semi-final first leg, Ahly and Sundowns qualified on the away-goal rule, winning 1-1 before a capacity crowd of 73, 000 in Cairo, and will host the final’s first game on May 24.
Fiston Mayele, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was the hero as Pyramids defeated South Africa’s Orlando Pirates 3-2 on aggregate in the return match.
In stark contrast to the previous match, Pyramids’ only a few thousand viewers watched their team qualify for the Champions League because they lack Ahly’s ferocious fan base.
In the first leg of the second leg, title-holders Ahly, who are chasing a historic third consecutive title, took the lead through a skillful finish from Taher Mohamed.
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Emam Ashour completed a superb cross-field pass to Mohamed after the Sundowns were dispossessed in midfield.
Mohamed beat goalkeeper Ronwen Williams with a fierce shot before taking the ball to the edge of the area with a fierce shot. His previous Champions League goal came in September.
If Ahly, the renowned 12-time African champion, had mistaken the prediction that the goal would be enough to reach the final eight years, Ahly would have made the error.
Stunned
They rarely threatened to increase their second-leg lead, but Khuliso Mudau almost equaled it with a glancing header off the corner after half-time.
The Cairo International Stadium’s match was about to enter extra time, so Ahly and their supporters, who were essentially all wearing red replica shirts, experienced a disaster.
A desperate scramble ensued after the ball was crossed into Ibrahim’s goal and landed in the net.
The crowd sounded as if they were stunned. In ten minutes of extra time, they were persuaded that the game had already been won. There were no more goals.
Ibrahim had appeared to foul Lucas Ribeiro in a prior second-half drama, but the Mauritanian referee disagreed after checking the situation with a VAR monitor.
While Pirates’ inability to hold onto a lead at the June 30 Stadium was stung by goals from Relebohile Mofokeng and Mohau Nkota, who gave them brief, four-minute advantage.
Ramadan Sobhi’s instant impact helped the teams level again on 57 minutes after Mayele equalized at 1-1 in the first half with an immediate 1-1 advantage in the first half.
After 84 minutes, Sodiq Ougola’s header was saved by Sipho Chaine, but Mayele reacted the fastest to smash the rebound into the net.
Source: Channels TV
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