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Wydad crush Ahly to be crowned Champions of Africa

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Wydad celebrate with the Champions League trophy
  • Zouheir El Moutaraji scored twice to hand Wydad the win
  • It was a repeat of the 2017 final which Wydad also won
  • Wydad have now won their third Champions League trophy

Zouheir El Moutaraji was the hero as Wydad Athletic Club beat defending champions Al Ahly 2-0 at the Mohamed V Stadium in Casablanca on Monday night to clinch their third CAF Champions League trophy.

El Moutaraji returned to Wydad’s starting team after missing the semi-final due to suspension, and ensured his return was a remarkable one as he scored a double, a goal in either half, to hand Wydad their second win over Ahly in a continental final.

Wydad beat Ahly once again in the 2017 final for their second African title, and completed the same routine, this time when the final is a single-leg affair, to send the city of Casablanca into frenzy.

Wydad head coach Waliid Regragui who is in his first spell as coach at Wydad was elated with the victory, delivering continental success to the club for the first time sin five years.

“It’s not the best final from a technical point of view but we put the necessary mindset to win this trophy. Tonight, we had, in addition to the state of mind, the luck to be champions with beautiful goals and success,” said the tactician.

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Wydad celebrate with the Champions League trophy

Ahly’s Pitso Mosimane, who was looking to become only the second man to win four Champions League titles was gracious in defeat and says they will now focus on winning the Egyptian Premier League title to return to the competition next season.

“In football, especially in the final, we do not ask who played well, the question is about who won the match and tonight, Al Ahly did not manage to do it. It was a great final but we lacked composure in front of goal. We created a lot of chances but couldn’t score,” he said.

Ahly dominated the match, with Wydad only seeing 34pc of possession in the first half and 33pc in the second half. But at the end of the night, the most important statistic, the goals, were in favour of the Moroccan Red Castle who were pushed on by their home fans.

The setting of the final, in Casablanca, had brought a lot of controversy with Al Ahly complaining even to the Court of Arbitration of Sports, but the game went on and both sides gave a good show.

It was the home side which had the better start as they pushed Ahly into their own half straight from kick off. They threatened and had a brilliant opportunity after 10 minutes when Guy Mbenza picked a pass from Yahya Jebrane, but his rasping shot came off cracking under the crossbar.

Five minutes later though, they broke the deadlock. In possession, Ahly were robbed of the ball on the right and immediately Moutaraji switched into attack mode and seeing space ahead of him, struck a superb flying shot that gave Mohamed Elshenawy no chance in the Ahly goal.

But immediately after conceding, Ahly woke from their slow start and pinned Wydad into their own half.

In the 22nd minute, Taher Mohamed sighted space from distance for a shot but it was deflected out for a corner. Ahly won two more in succession and on the second, Yasser Ibrahim flushed a header just wide after peeling off his marker to connect to Maaloul’s delivery.

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El Moutaraji celebrates one of his two goals

Ahly were almost caught on the counter in the 31st minute when the influential Jebrane picked the ball and fed off Reda Jaadi who slapped a low ball to Mbenza. However, the burly forward’s shot went wide, much to the relief of the Egyptian side.

They continued their dominance and overall had 68pc of possession in the opening half, but couldn’t show a goal for their effort.

In the second half, Wydad started as well as they did the first half and they needed just two minutes to complete the job, even before Ahly could settle into the game.

A quick counter saw Wydad break away on the right with a low cross being slashed into the area. Moutaraji managed top sneak in behind Mohamed Hany for a tap in that was saved by Elshenawy. However, the rebound fell on his path again and he bundled the ball home, to kill off Ahly’s spirits.

With a two goal burden to carry, Coach Mosimane threw caution out of the window and made full attacking changes. He pulled out Hussein El Shahaat for Magdy Afsha, Ahmed Abdelkader for Mohamed Sheriff while later, defender Hany came off for Salah Mohsen as Amr El Solia was brought in for Hamdi Fathi.

Ahly had chances to score. Afsha’s shot from distance was saved by Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti while Maaloul had another fly over from inside the box. Despite pressure, Ahly couldn’t find a way back.

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