The winners of the CAF Champions League will be decided on Saturday when Al Ahly and Kaizer Chiefs square off in the final in Morocco.
Al Ahly progressed to the final with a dominant aggregate win over Esperance Tunis, while the South African giants came out on the right end of a tight two-legged clash with Wydad AC.
Match Preview
Al Ahly progressed through the group stage with relative comfort, finishing in second spot after collecting 11 points from their six games thanks to wins over Al-Merrikh, Vita Club and Simba, while only losing one game.
That saw them handed a quarter-final tie against Mamelodi Sundowns, and they took a 2-0 lead in the first leg thanks to goals from Taher Mohamed and Salah Mohsen, before Yasser Ibrahim made the aggregate lead 3-0 early in the second leg and a Mosa Lebusa goal would see the tie finish 3-1 on aggregate.
Pitso Mosimane’s men then took on Esperance Tunis in the semi-finals, and a Mohamed Sherif goal would see them take a 1-0 lead into the away leg.
An Ali Maaloul penalty on the stroke of half time in the second leg settled Al Ahly’s nerves, before Sherif again got on the scoresheet alongside Hussein El Shahat to see them come out as 4-0 winners, booking their place in Sunday’s final.
Coming into the game on the back of three consecutive league wins since the beginning of July, most recently thrashing Misr Lel Makkasa 4-1 away from home, the Egyptian champions will go in search of their 10th CAF Champions League title.
Furthermore, they will aim to defend the trophy after defeating domestic rivals Zamalek 2-1 in the final last year.
To retain the title, Mosimane’s men will have to get past a Kaizer Chiefs side who are on the hunt for their first CAF Champions League title.
The eight-time South African top-flight champions also qualified for the knockout stage in second place in their group, winning games against Petro de Luanda and group winners Wydad AC to finish on nine points.
They then took on Simba in the first knockout round, and they looked set to reach the final four after picking up a 4-0 win in the first leg thanks to a Samir Nurkovic brace and goals from Eric Mathoho and Leonardo Castro.
However, the tie would go on to be closer than Stuart Baxter’s men would have liked, as a John Bocco brace and a Clatous Chama goal saw the second leg finish 3-0, with Kaizer Chiefs scraping through by one goal.
They would then clash with group rivals Wydad in the semi-finals, and took a 1-0 lead into the second leg thanks to a Nurkovic goal in the 34th minute.
On home turf, Kaizer Chiefs would stand strong to defend their one-goal lead, with the game finishing goalless, seeing the South African outfit meet Al Ahly in the final on Saturday.
They will now look to put a disappointing domestic campaign behind them and secure continental silverware, having finished eighth in the South African top flight.
Team News
Mohamed Sherif will lead the line for Al Ahly, having hit five goals in 12 CAF Champions League appearances this season in their run to the final.
He should be joined by Taher Mohamed, who has hit three goals in this year’s tournament, and Hussein El Shahat, who has found the net six times and registered six assists in 21 appearances in this year’s Egyptian top flight.
Yasser Ibrahim and Badr Benoun are expected to partner up at the heart of the back four, shielding experienced goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy between the sticks.
The Kaizer Chiefs line will likely be led by Samir Nurkovic, who has hit three CAF Champions League goals this campaign, and Leonardo Castro, who scored six goals in 26 appearances in this season’s South African top flight.
The back three of Siyabonga Ngezana, Eric Mathoho and Daniel Cardoso featured in both legs of their semi-final win over Wydad AC, and that should remain unchanged after two impressive clean sheets.
Al Ahly possible starting lineup:
El Shenawy; Tawfik, Benoun, Ibrahim, Maaloul; Al Sulaya, Dieng, Fathi; Taher, Sherif, El Shahat
Kaizer Chiefs possible starting lineup:
Akpeyi; Ngezana, Mathoho, Cardoso; Frosler, Blom, Katsande, Sasman; Blom; Nurkovic, Castro
Match Facts:
● This will be the fourth CAF Champions League final between teams from South Africa and Egypt, with Al Ahly winning two for the Egyptians (against Mamelodi Sundowns in 2001 and Orlando Pirates in 2013) and Mamelodi Sundowns defeating Zamalek in 2016.
● Kaizer Chiefs are the first team to reach the final of the CAF Champions League in their debut season in the competition since AS Vita Club in 2014 (runners-up), while they could become the third team from South Africa to win the CAF Champions League/African Cup of Champions Clubs, after Orlando Pirates in 1995 and Mamelodi Sundowns in 2016.
● Al Ahly are looking to win their 10th CAF Champions League/African Cup of Champions Clubs title and a 16th for Egypt, no other team have won more than five and no other country have been victorious on more than six occasions.
● Reigning Champions: Al Ahly, are looking to win the CAF Champions League in consecutive seasons for the third time, after 2005/06 and 2012/13. Since the competition was re-named in 1997 no other side has won back-to-back titles more than once (Enyimba 2003/04, TP Mazembe 2009/10 and ES Tunis 2018/19).
● Kaizer Chiefs have kept seven clean sheets in their 10 matches in the CAF Champions League this season, no side have ever recorded more in a single season in the competition. However, the South African side have faced the most shots in 2020-21 (142 – 14.2 per game) with an expected goals against value of 14.4 – only AS Vita Club have higher values in both metrics this term (15.3 shots faced/game, 14.9 xG against).
Al Ahly
● Al Ahly have lost just one of their last 20 matches in the CAF Champions League (W13 D6), a 1-0 defeat to Simba SC in February – the only time they’ve failed to score in this run.
● Kaizer Chiefs have scored 50% of their goals (5/10) via headers in the CAF Champions League this season, no team has had more in a single campaign since 2017/18 (Wydad Casablanca and USM Alger – both 6).
● Al Ahly have scored the most goals (18) and had the most shots (130) in the CAF Champions League this season, while their shot conversion rate of 13.9% is only bettered by AS Vita Club (14.3% – 10/70).
● Al Ahly have had 11 different goal scorers (excluding own goals) in the CAF Champions League this season, three more than any other side, while no side have had more in a single edition of the competition since Opta began recording this data in 2016.
● Al Ahly’s Afsha has been directly involved in 10 goals (5 goals, 5 assists) in the CAF Champions League since the start of 2019-20, no player has been involved in more (level with Zamalek’s Achraf Bencharki).
Prediction
At GSP1, we say: Al Ahly 2-1 Kaizer Chiefs
While the Egyptian side will come into this game as favourites to seal their 10th CAF Champions League title, we would not be surprised to see Kaizer Chiefs defy the odds with a victory.
Despite that, we still see Al Ahly having the required quality to retain their title and see off a strong outfit on Saturday.
