Al Ahly survived an almighty scare to defeat El Merrikh 3-2 in a postponed Matchday 1 of the CAF Champions League group stage on Saturday.
The Red Devils started the first half on a bright note and were rewarded on the third minute, as Mohamed Sherif opened the scoring after connecting to a through ball from Percy Tau.
El Merreikh should have scored an equalizer ten minutes later when Ramadan Agab’s trickery on the right presented a one-on-one chance for Alsamany Alsawy against Al Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy.
Al Ahly were patient with the ball and were nearly rewarded on the 29th minute with Tau slipping through on goal at the near post but he fired his shot straight at shot-stopper Monged Elneel.
Pitso Mosimane’s men increased their intensity after that and they were awarded on the 34th minute after Ahmed Abdel-Kader dribbled past his challenger before sending a cut back to the lurking Sherif, who made no mistake for the second goal.
However, Merrikh were not behind as they cut the deficit on the 43rd minute as Alsamany Alsawy slipped a pass to Ramadan Agab who easily beat goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy from a tight angle.
The visitors were finding openings early in the second stanza as Mohamed Hani kept Al Ahly in the game with two seperate goal-line clearances to deny Mohamed El Rasheed and Ammar Taifour.
Al Ahly improved defensively after that though and the Glowing Red reinforced their attack 30 minutes before time, as Taher Mohamed Taher and Mohamed Sherif were all introduced.
However, Elsamani Saadeldin leveled the matters for the Sudanese side on the 69th minute with fine finish after connecting Emad Alsini’s cross from the left.
Al Ahly pushed their men forward and they won the match through an own goal 14 minutes from time when Mustafa Karshoum deflected an Amr Elsoulia shot past goalkeeper Monged Abuzaid.
The Red Devils now sit second in their group with four points, three behind leaders Sundowns, while Al Merreikh dropped to third with the same amount of points as Al Ahly.
The African Champions League will resume on mid-March in the coming weekend with match-day four group matches.
How they lined-up:
Ahly: Mohamed El Shennawi – Mohamed Hani, Mohamed Abdel-Moneim, Rami Rabia, Ali Maaloul – Amr El Sulaya, Aliou Dieng, Mohamed “Afsha” Magdi (Hossam Hassan 90+2) – Ahmed Abdel-Kader (Taher Mohamed Taher 63), Percy Tau (Hussein El-Shahat 63), Mohamed Sherif (Hamdi Fathi 79)
Merreikh: Monged Elneel – Thomas Bouak (Tajeldin Badawi 73), Hamza Dawoud, Mostafa Karshom, Bekhit Khamis – Mohamed El Rasheed, Ammar Taifour, Emad Alsini (Algozoli Hussien 73) – Alsamany Alsawy, Tony Edjomariegwe, Ramadan Agab.
