CAF Champions League: WAC, Ah Ahly take commanding leads in first legs of semi finals ties
Wydad Atletic Club are firmly have one foot in the finals after cruising to a 3-1 victory in the first leg of their CAF Champions League semifinal tie against Petro de Luanda, at the 11 November Stadium on Saturday.
The Red Castle capitalised on the space afforded to them as they took a two-goal lead into the break and Guy Mbenza put the result beyond doubt with a third in the second half.
Job gave the Tricolores a glimmer of hope with a consolation goal late on, but Walid Regragui’s side are in control of their destiny after scoring three away goals.
Petro had the lion’s share of the possession and they provided the first real scare after just four minutes when Tiago Azulao directed a header narrowly over the crossbar from a free-kick.
The Brazilian went on to find the back of the net 12 minutes later, although it came at the other end as he inadvertently glanced Yahia Attiyat Allah’s in-swinging free-kick from the right past Wellington to give the visitors the lead.
Alexandre Santos’ team went in search of an equaliser but they were restricted to shots from range and never troubled Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti in the first half.
Wydad would take control of proceedings on the stroke of half-time as Jabrane was played into a pocket of space in the right channel and he lined up a shot from 25 yards out that flew into the top left corner of the net to double their advantage.
Read: EPL: Liverpool’s title hopes fade after Spurs draw
The hosts were unfortunate not to halve the deficit three minutes after the restart when Gleison saw his effort from inside the box come back off the right post.
Tagnaouti was finally called into action on 65 minutes as To Carneiro forced him into a save with a strike from inside the area on the left and Wellington had to keep out a long-range effort from Mbenza at the opposite end of the pitch two minutes later.
Mbenza had the beating of Wellington moments later though, tucking his shot past the Brazilian keeper from seven yards out following good link-up play with Zouhair El Moutaraji on the left.
The Tricolores almost found an immediate response as Erico Castro drew a smart save out of Tagnaouti with a shot from range and they would eventually pull one nine minutes from time through Job, who curled a free-kick into the top right corner of the net.
South African Percy Tau put up an amazing performance, with a brace of assists and goals as defending champions Al Ahly hit Algeria’s ES Setif 4-0 in Cairo on Saturday to put one foot into the final of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
Setif had to play 55 minutes of the match with 10 men after Amir Karaoui was sent off following a VAR intervention.
Ahly now carry with them a healthy four-goal advantage heading into the return tie in Algiers next weekend, and the defense of their title seems to be going well on course.
The home side had a blistering start to the match and they thought they had opened the scoring in the third minute through Mohamed Taher, but the goal was chalked off by VAR for offside.
However, Tau broke the deadlock for the Red Devils on the half hour mark with a bouncing header from close range after Taher’s inviting cross picked out his run.
Setif’s day went from bad to worse five minutes later when Karaoui was sent off for a stamp on Hussein El Shahat. The referee had initially given a yellow but after watching the replay on VAR, he changed the color of the card from yellow to red.
The hosts should have gone 2-0 up just before the break when Taher picked out El Shahat with a good pass on the right, but the latter blasted his shot wide.
They came back off the break with a determined display to put the game beyond doubt and they doubled their tally in the 54th minute when Taher finally found his goal, smashing in a header from a deflected tau cross.
Tau came close to adding another goal in the 56th minute with a brilliant control off a ball lofted behind the defense, but his shot on the volley hit the outside of the bar.
Nonetheless, he created the third goal when he put Mohamed Sheriff through, the Egyptian number 10 chipping over a deft clip over the keeper, barely two minutes after coming on.
Ahly completed the job at the stroke of 90 minutes, Tau adding his second of the evening with a simple tap in from a yard out after Mohamed Hany’s cross from the right found the defense napping.
