CAF Champions League: Pitso Mosimane leads Al Ahly to victory in Tunisia
Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly secured a 1-0 first-leg win in the CAF Champions League semi-finals against Esperance Sportif Tunis on Saturday evening.
A surprise start for Akram Tafik highlighted Ahly’s stall, who also featured Taher Mohamed, Salah Mohsen and Mohamed Sherif with Esperance featuring Basit Abdul Khalid up top.
The match was suspended and kicked off an hour late after the Ahly players were forced off the field following crowd trouble, with the Police firing teargas and grenades to disperse supporters.
Ahly were quick on the charge and bagged the lead on the half-hour mark from a strike by Sherif following a long ball by Amr El-Sulaya, but it was disallowed for offside.
Mosimane’s side were given a slight scare by the home side later on, but goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy was alert and managed to snuff out any danger.
No substitutions ahead of the second half came, but that changed 12 minutes in after Esperance withdrew Basit Abdul Khalid and introduced Anice Badri.
Sherif was on the receiving end of a good opportunity midway in the second half with a shot from inside the area, but he was unable to beat their opposite number.
The Eagles finally grabbed the lead towards the last 20 minutes courtesy of the self-same Sherif from a nicely articulated assist from Aliou Dieng.
Ahly looked to double their tally in the closing stages, but remained content with a narrow first-leg victory ahead of next Saturday’s return-leg in Cairo.