Dream of an all-Arab Club World Cup final is over as Al-Ahly fall to Real Madrid

The dream of an all-Arab FIFA Club World Cup final is over, after Real Madrid defeated Al-Ahly of Egypt 4-1 on Wednesday in the second semi-final.

It came a day after Al-Hilal claimed their place in the final with an impressive victory over Brazilian side Flamengo. And though they will not face their regional rivals, the reality of the situation is still pretty special: The Saudi and Asian title-holders will face the 14-time European champions in Saturday’s decider. Either the Riyadh giants will be crowned world champions for the first time or their Madrid counterparts will take the title for a fifth time.

Al-Ahly, meanwhile, will have to watch as their regional neighbors take on arguably the biggest club in the world and, perhaps, rue what might have been, because the one-sided scoreline on Wednesday did not reflect the problems they caused Real Madrid.

Regardless, the Red Giants can take some comfort from the fact that although they fell short against Los Blancos, as have many before them, they did themselves, their country and their continent proud. There is no doubt that Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti’s words of comfort and consolation for opposite number Marcel Koller were heartfelt. The game was an enthralling and tight contest until the final few minutes. The 10-time African champions, unbeaten in the Egyptian Premier League after 15 games this season under Koller, and victorious in this tournament over Oceania champions Auckland City and CONCACAF title-holders the Seattle Sounders, gave as good as they got.

After 18 minutes, Mohammed Sherif fired just over the bar from the left side of the area and, soon after, Mohammed Abdelmonem’s header from a corner also narrowly cleared the woodwork. On the half-hour