Egyptian giants Al Ahly beat Kaizer Chiefs 3-0 in Casablanca to successfully defend their CAF Champions League crown and secure their 10th overall title.
Goals from Mohamed Sherif, Magdy Afsha and Mohamed Elsoulia handed Al Ahly the title on Saturday, with Chiefs having to play the whole of the second half with 10 men.
This was after Happy Mashiane was sent off right at the stroke of half-time.
While Al Ahly celebrated a 10th Champions League title, head coach Pitso Mosimane was celebrating his third as coach.
It was also his second with Al Ahly, having led them to the crown last season.
The opening period was competitive in the middle of the park and chances were far and few in between.
Samir Nurkovic had a chance for the South African side with a curling shot in the 16th minute which flew straight into the goalkeeper’s arms.
Husein Elshahat had a shot when a corner-kick was played to the edge of the penalty box in the 20th minute.
But it went over while Elsoulia also had a shot from distance which equally flew over.
Amakhosi’s turning-point of the game came at the stroke of half-time when Mashiane was sent off for a dangerous studs-up foul on Tawfik Akram.
He was initially yellow-carded but upon advice from the Video Assistant Referee, the centre referee went pitch-side to the screen and changed his yellow card to red.
Al Ahly took maximum advantage of the numerical strength in the second half and it took them just eight minutes to break the deadlock.
Akram sent Sherif through with a peach of a pass and the forward dinked the ball over an onrushing Daniel Akpeyi.
The Red Devils made it 2-0 in the 64th minute off a quick counter-attack when the ball was launched behind the defence.
Nigerian goalkeeper Akpeyi and defender Eric Mathoho did not decide who was to go for the ball and Mohamed Taher picked it up on the left before spraying to Afsha.
Afsha then played a one-two with Sherif before slamming the ball into the far left.
Ten minutes later, it was game over for Kaizer Chiefs as Al Ahly got their third off another quickly-executed play.
Sheriff picked the ball at the edge of the box before setting up Elsoulia with a beautiful backheel roll.
Elsoulia picked his spot and curled in a beauty past the goalkeeper to all but seal the title in Al Ahly’s name.
Kaizer Chiefs made attempts to try and cut out the deficit, but the Egyptians were more settled and dealt with the danger with calmness.(NAN)
