Al-Ahly of Egypt beats Moroccan Raja in the African Champions League
Al-Ahly of Egypt defeated its Moroccan guest Raja 2-1, on Saturday evening, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the African Champions League.
Al-Ahly advanced through Amr Al-Sulayya from a penalty kick in the 13th minute, and ten minutes later, Hussein Al-Shahat succeeded in adding the second goal for the Egyptian team.
In the first minute of the first half, Mohamed Zuraida scored the goal of reducing the difference for Raja.
The match witnessed the expulsion of Marwan Al-Hadhoudi, player of Raja, in the 60th minute, while Al-Ahly player Amr Al-Sulayya missed a penalty kick a minute later.
The return match between the two teams will be held next Friday in Casablanca.
Al-Ahly entered the match without introduction, as it sought from the beginning to pose a threat to the goal of Anas Al-Zeniti, the Raja goalkeeper, trying to score an early goal.
And in the 13th minute, Al-Ahly succeeded in his quest when midfielder Amr Al-Sulayya scored the first goal, from a penalty kick, after a handball from Elias Al-Haddad, player of Raja, so that the referee confirmed this through the video assistant referee (VAR) technique and decided to calculate the kick from which a goal came. progress.
After the goal, Al-Ahly dominated the match to a large extent, and its players exchanged passes among themselves in the middle of the field, while confusion prevailed in the style of the Raja team, which tried to launch some counter-attacks to equalize.
Al-Ahly’s control of the match resulted in Hussein Al-Shahat scoring the second goal in the 23rd minute, after his South African teammate Percy Tau penetrated from the left side, to play a cross, which Al-Shahat met with a shot in the net, announcing his team’s progress with the second goal.
Raja players demanded a penalty kick in the 28th minute, claiming that the ball was touched by Al-Ahly defender Mohamed Abdel Moneim, but the referee demanded to continue playing.
Al-Ahly almost scored the third goal in the 38th minute, after Hussein Al-Shahat crossed from a corner kick, to be directed by Al-Soulia with a header, before the Raja defenders removed it in the last moments to a corner kick that did not result in anything new.
The last five minutes of the first half witnessed several attempts by Raja to score a goal to reduce the difference.
In the first minute of the lost time for the first half, Mohamed Zuraida managed to score a goal to reduce the difference for Raja after receiving a ground pass from the right side of his colleague Abdelilah Madkour, to hit a ball that shook the nets of Al-Ahly goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shennawy.
The rest of the first half minutes did not witness anything new, so the referee blew his final whistle with Al-Ahly advancing 2/1.
With the beginning of the second half, Raja continued its pressure in order to equalize, but Al-Ahly reciprocated attacks throughout the first quarter of the second half.
In the 60th minute, the referee awarded a penalty kick to Al-Ahly, after a handball from Marouani Al-Hadhoudi, the player of Raja, inside the penalty area, so the referee decided to calculate the kick and raise the red card in the face of the Raja defender.
Al-Ahly did not succeed in taking advantage of the penalty kick, which was lost by Al-Sulayya, after Al-Zeniti starred in stopping the ball in the 61st minute, to miss the opportunity to strengthen the difference for the Egyptian team.
In the 67th minute, Mohamed Hani played a cross from the right side, directed by Ahmed Abdel Qader with a header that passed next to the right post of the Raja goal.
Percy Tao missed the opportunity to score a third goal for Al-Ahly in the 81st minute, after receiving a superb pass from his colleague Ahmed Abdel Qader inside the penalty area, but he hit the ball over the Zeniti goalpost.
The remaining minutes of the second half and the match did not witness anything new, so the referee blew his final whistle, with Al-Ahly winning 2-1 over Raja.
Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news
:
#Al-Ahly_Egypt
#Moroccan Raja,
#African Champions League