After holding off Raja Club Athletic of Morocco to a scoreless draw in Casablanca on Saturday, record-breaking champions Al Ahly have advanced into a sixth straight semi-final of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.

As a consequence, Ahly advances 2-0 overall after winning the first leg in Cairo last weekend by the same margin.

Raja lost to Ahly for the second time in a row; they had faced the Egyptians at the similar stage of the previous season.

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When it comes to the home team’s several missed scoring opportunities, which included a penalty immediately before halftime, they only have themselves to blame.

Raja was hoping for a boost from the crowd as they played at the famous Mohamed V Complex in an effort to erase a 2-0 first-leg deficit.

After 28 minutes, Yousri Bouzouk found shooting space from a tight angle, but Mohamed Elshenawy made a great save for a corner as they finally had a chance as they pressured Ahly to defend deep.

When the referee decided to use the VAR on the pitch to review a foul by Aliou Dieng on Bouzouk inside the box just before halftime, he gave Raja a wonderful opportunity to break the score.

The Ahly teammates were greatly relieved when the Algerian accepted responsibility and sent his penalty shattering beneath the bar.

Raja continued to occupy Ahly’s half in the second half, but they were never successful in advancing their bid by scoring at least one goal.

A beautiful cross from the right found Hamza Khabba running at the backpost with a quarter of an hour left, but Khabba’s touch missed the goal with the goalie comfortably beat.

Ahly did their part well by maintaining their aggregate lead to advance to the last four and maintain their chances of winning an 11th African championship.