CAF CL: Onyango howler gifts Al Ahly huge advantage ahead of Pretoria trip

Titleholders Al Ahly have taken a huge advantage into the second leg after beating Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League on Saturday.

Al Ahly were drawn to face Sundowns in the quarterfinal for the third consecutive time, having met them in the same stage of the tournament in the past two editions, with each winning one of the two.

Similar to last year, the Reds managed to secure a 2-0 victory in Cairo, thanks to goals from Taher Mohamed Taher and Salah Mohsen.

The game started quietly from both sides, but after 20 minutes, the visitors won a set-piece not far away from the penalty area, which saw Gift Motupa’s glancing header coming off the post, before the same player saw his header go inches wide from the resulting corner.

Al Ahly responded immediately as Taher Mohamed received a long ball from Dieng, before cutting inside from the right side of the box to send a powerful strike past Onyango, putting the Reds 1-0 up.

Shouts for a penalty within minutes of the restart as Mohamed Sherif gets knocked down in the area by Onyango, but was not given by the referee in a bizarre fashion.

The second-half was all Sundowns and they nearly found the equaliser through Mosa Lebusa’s header inside the six-yard box; however, El-Shennawy was there to deny him.

Motupa also saw his curling effort from outside the box parried away by El-Shennawy as the score remained 1-0.

With minutes left to go, Mosimane’s substitutes proved their worth as Onyango produced a howler after misjudging Junior Ajayi’s long ball, allowing Salah Mohsen to easily put the ball into the empty net, finishing the game 2-0.

Al Ahly will now travel to Pretoria next week with a two-goal advantage, meaning a draw or a 1-0 defeat would be enough to see them secure a place in the semi-finals.

Source: Kingfut