CAF Champions League: Reaching Quarterfinals Excites Al Ahly

A brave Al Ahly battled favourites Al Hilal to a 1-1 draw in a 2019/2020 CAF Champions League played at Omdurman Stadium on Saturday night.

The result sees the Cairo giants reach the quarter-finals of the competition, and reassert their dominance over the Blue Wave following a 2-1 win of Razvan Lucescus’ charges in the first leg.

In-form winger Mohamed Magdi Kafsha broke the deadlock with a superb finish in the early minutes of the second stanza before Omer scored an equalizer in the dying minutes with a stunning close-range effort.

The draw raised their tally to 12 points one shy from Etoile who finished on top with 13 points after defeating Zimbabwe’s Platinum 2-0 in a concurrent game played in Rades.

Ahly players, led by veteran defender Rami Abi, expressed their happiness for progressing to the quarterfinals of the competition.

“I am happy with qualifying for the African Champions League quarterfinals, so we don’t care about our opponents in the coming round,” Rabia told reporters after the game.

“All people know well the mentality of Ahly players in critical situations,” Rabia added. “We don’t care about the name of our opponent in the quarterfinals as we only search for one target: how to win the trophy to please our fans who are waiting for the African title.”

Al Ahly are now waiting to face one the big African teams namely Esperance de Tunis, TP Mazembe, Mamelodi Sundowns, Raja Casablanca, Wydad Casablanca, Zamalek or Etoile du Sahel, who reached the knockout stage after leading their groups.