Club World Cup: Al Ahly focused on Fluminense after statement win over Al Ittihad

Al Ahly “showed who we are” in their superb Fifa Club World Cup victory against hosts Al Ittihad, but are focused only on Fluminense despite the carrot of meeting Manchester City in the final, according to midfielder Taher Mohamed.

The African champions, making a ninth appearance in the tournament, triumphed 3-1 on Friday night in their second-round clash against Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Co in Jeddah.

Ahly raced to a 3-0 lead just after the hour at a King Abdullah Sports City packed with more than 56,000 fans, with Ali Maaloul, Hussein El Shahat and Emam Ashour getting the goals.

Benzema, who had earlier missed a penalty with the score at 1-0, pulled one back for the Saudi champions deep into injury-time, and Ahly had Anthony Modeste sent off, but they ran out deserving winners to set up a semi-final on Monday against Brazil’s Fluminense.

It marked a remarkable result for the Egyptians, who came into the Club World Cup with a solitary win in five games – and only three in their past 11 outings.

“It was a crazy game, a fantastic game, the crowd was unbelievable today, with the Al Ahly fans and Al Ittihad fans,” Mohamed said. “We knew it was going to be a big game and a challenging one, but we fought until the end.

“We made a big score against a big team, with big players.”

Mohamed, who entered the match as a second-half substitute, described Mohamed Al Shenawy’s save from Benzema’s penalty right at the end of the first half as “the twist” in the encounter.

Al Ahly’s triumphant players over with their superb support, basking in a deserved win.

3-1 in end, & #ClubWC semi-final with Fluminense to come. #YallaYaAhly pic.twitter.com/SUYcMuQH6r

However, having taken huge confidence from victory, he said Ahly are not yet