Al Ahly cruise to fourth straight CAF Champions League final

Hussein el Shahat scored to give Al Ahly of Egypt a 1-0 win over Esperance of Tunisia on Friday, and a fourth consecutive CAF Champions League final appearance.

The record 10-time title winners won the semi-final 4-0 on aggregate after building a 3-0 first-leg lead in Rades seven days ago.

READ | Success or failure? The measure of Sundowns' season comes down to semi-final decider against Wydad

It was the fourth consecutive season in the premier African club competition in which Ahly have won a semi-final by four goals overall.

The Cairo Red Devils beat Wydad Casablanca of Morocco 5-1 in 2020, Esperance 4-0 the following year and Entente Setif of Algeria 6-2 in 2022.

Fourth Straight CAF Champions League Final ??We Are Proud ?? pic.twitter.com/uUj30OxeIf

Ahly will face Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa or Wydad AC from Morocco in a two-leg final on 4 and 11 June, with the first leg in Cairo.

The Egyptian club have bitter memories of Sundowns this season at the group stage. After drawing 2-2 in Cairo, they suffered a humiliating 5-2 defeat in Pretoria.

Sundowns host Wydad on Saturday and are slight favourites to reach a second final having forced a 0-0 draw in Casablanca despite finishing the first leg with nine men after two red cards.

Esperance coach Nabil Maaloul quit after the heavy first-leg loss and caretaker replacement Anis Boussaidi struck a hopeful pre-match note, saying "nothing is impossible in football".

But dreams of a stunning second-leg recovery by the Blood and Gold lasted just 22 minutes before El Shahat put Ahly ahead on the night at the Cairo International Stadium.

A brilliant pass from the halfway line by South African Percy Tau set El Shahat free and he fired the ball past goalkeeper Mohamed Debchi from close