South African Percy Tau delivered the magic once again as defending champions Al Ahly drew 2-2 with ES Setif in Algiers on Saturday night to progress to the final of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
The Red Devils progressed with a 6-2 aggregate score, having won the first leg 4-0 in Cairo last weekend. Setif had come from a goal down to lead 2-1 and dream of a huge comeback, but Mohamed Sheriff scored the equalizer at the stroke of 90 minutes to secure a draw.
The Egyptian giants remain on course for a third Champions League trophy in a row and a record extending 11th overall. They will face off with Morocco’s Wydad Athletic Club in what is expected to be a mouth watering finale.
Tau who scored twice and assisted twice in the first leg played part by assisting both goals for Ahly.
The Egyptians were ahead after exactly a minute and 51 seconds when Tau played a quick interchange of passes with Ahmed Abdelkader before the latter finished off superbly inside the box.
It was a dream start for Ahly and a huge blow for Setif who now had to score more than six goals to overturn the massive deficit.
But the home side gave a fight and wanted to bow out with respect, even if they stood a chance of failing in their quest to score six at home. They equalized at the stroke of halftime through Ahmed Kendouci’s brilliant strike.
The midfielder drifted to the edge of the box from the left before striking a belter of a shot that came off the underside of the bar and into the net.
In the second half, the home side continued with their fight and they went into the lead on the hour mark through another brilliant strike, this time Riad Benayad coming in with the goals.
The forward struck another long range shot that dipped just infront of Mohamed Elshenawy, evading his grasp.
Despite increased efforts to score a third, Ahly defended well. They put the game to rest at the stroke of fulltime when Tau played another brilliant through pass to Sheriff, the number 10 doing the simple task of sliding it beyond the keeper.
