JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —
Raja Casablanca goalkeeper Anas Zniti
saved a penalty in Egypt to boost the chances of the Moroccan club dethroning
CAF Champions League holders Al-Ahly, despite a 2–1 loss in their quarter-final
first leg.
اضافة اعلان
Reduced to 10 men in Cairo before the spot-kick
after Marouane Hadhoudi was sent off for handling to prevent a certain goal,
Raja were in danger of falling two goals behind on the hour mark.
Amr El-Soulia had put Ahly ahead from a 13th-minute
penalty that evaded the outstretched right hand of Zniti and landed in the
corner of the net.
The Egyptian decided to aim for the same corner from
the second spot-kick, but this time Zniti pushed the ball away.
As Ahly intensified pressure in the final 30
minutes, but a combination of saves by Zniti, brave defending and wild shooting
foiled the hosts.
Hussein El-Shahat was the other Ahly scorer,
finishing off a superb low cross from South African
Percy Tau on 23 minutes at
a 40,000-seat Al-Salam Stadium that was half full due to coronavirus protocols.
Dominant Ahly, who should have been more than two
goals ahead as half-time loomed, were stung in first-half added time when
Mohamed Zrida halved the deficit with a low shot off a cut-back.
It leaves the pick of the quarter-finals in the
marquee African club competition delicately balanced ahead of the return match
in
Casablanca, which will kick off late on Friday.
Footballers are permitted to break the dawn-to-dusk
fast during the ongoing Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but most prefer not to.
Elusive title
treble
Instead, they eat
and drink after dusk and the
Confederation of African Football (CAF) has agreed
to extend the 1900 GMT kick-off deadline, with some matches beginning close to
midnight local time.
Record 10-time African
champions Ahly hope to become the first club to win the competition three
consecutive times — a feat that has eluded them and three other sides.
Ahly (2007 and
2014) and Tout Puissant Mazembe (1969 and 2011) from the Democratic Republic of
Congo failed twice.
Nigerian side
Enyimba (2005) and Esperance (2020) of
Tunisia were other back-to-back winners
of the Champions League who could not complete a treble.
The winners between
Ahly and Raja will book a two-leg semi-final against Esperance or Entente Setif
of Algeria, who were held 0–0 at home in a first leg where the visitors created
more chances.
Chabab Belouizdad,
the other Algerian contenders for a 2.5 million dollar first prize, fared even
worse than Setif, losing 1–0 at home to two-time champions Wydad Casablanca in
Algiers.
The Moroccans had
to play 83 minutes a man short after VAR changed a yellow card given to
Jalal Daoudi for a foul to a red one.
But a headed goal
by Congo Brazzaville international
Guy Mbenza, sporting a pink hair style, 19
seconds into the second half decided a match controlled by Belouizdad without
creating many clear-cut chances.
Needing a draw in
Casablanca next weekend to qualify, Wydad appear set to reach the last-four
stage for the sixth time in seven seasons, and face Petro Luanda of Angola or
Mamelodi Sundowns of
South Africa.
Petro came from behind to win the first leg 2–1 in Luanda
with Brazilian Tiago Azulao canceling out an early Lyle Lakay goal, then
setting up the late first-half winner for Yano Duarte.
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