Percy Tau scored a brace and Mahmoud Kahraba added a third as record-breaking Al Ahly defeated Tunisia’s Esperance 3-0 to get to the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League final, .
The Egyptian juggernauts’ victory away in Rades on Friday night puts them on track for a second straight final; all they need to do is win the rematch in Cairo the following weekend to secure their place in the championship game.
Ahly, who barely made it out of the group stages, turned out to be an entirely different team in the knockout stages.
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They once again demonstrated their dominance with an outstanding performance in the North African derby.
They were able to calm their worries with an early goal in just eight minutes thanks to Tau, who scored the first of his two goals with a low drive after being left unmarked on the right and receiving a feed from Kahraba.
In the 13th minute, Esperance had an opportunity to tie the score again, but Mohamed Elshenawy deflected Moataz Zaddem’s close-range header over the bar.
Kahraba was superbly put in on goal by Tau in the 26th minute, and Ahly should have made it 2-0, but he mishit his shot with only the keeper to beat.
Esperance started the second half faster off the bat, but were surprised barely 10 minutes in when Tau scored a beautiful curled goal from the edge of the box after feinting numerous times to gain space.
Esperance had opportunities, with Mohamed Ben Hamouda’s header straying just wide and Mohamed Ben Romdhane’s overhead kick off a corner being expertly stopped by Elshenawy.
The hosts increased their pressure on Ahly in an effort to get back into the game, but as they pushed bodies forward to find an equalizer, they neglected to close gaps, which resulted to Ahly scoring the third goal 15 minutes before the end of the game.
Aliou Dieng led a textbook counterattack by sending Hussein Elshahat through on the left. Elshahat then fired a low cross into the box, where Kahraba scored at the backpost.
Ahly had the job done and the hosts were unable to come back with a three-goal advantage away from home.