Here is Cairo … Zamalek looks for hope to reach Al-Ahly appointment

Zamalek reached a historic date against Al-Ahly in the final of the African Champions League, after defeating Moroccan Raja Casablanca 3-1 in the second leg of the semi-finals of the African Champions League, on Wednesday at the Cairo International Stadium.

Zamalek settled the first leg, 4-1, on aggregate of the two games, having won the first leg with a clean goal and hopeful at home.

Thus, Zamalek was able to hit an appointment from its neighbor Al-Ahly in the final of the tournament scheduled for November 27.

Match events

Zamalek started the match calmly, and on the other side, there were attempts by Raja to reach the white goal, but good positioning was always present in the middle of the field.

The first dangerous balls came in the 11th minute through Sanad Al-Werfalli, who had received a corner played by Abdel-Elah Al-Hafizi on the right wing, for which Al-Libi aimed a dangerous ball in the header that was retired by the gigantic zamalek goalkeeper Mohamed Abu Jabal.

Ben Malango fell onto the field in the penalty area in the 18th minute, calling for a penalty kick against Mohamed Alaa, but the referee ordered the game to continue and confirmed the validity of the video assistant referee’s decision.

Zamalek had the opportunity to take the lead for Zamalek in the 23rd minute and aimed a powerful ball that hit the defense and became a corner.

Mohsen Metwally played a ball deep into the penalty area, which nearly fooled Muhammad Abu Jabal after he hit the defense in the 25th minute, but managed to return at the right moment and grab the ball.

Zamalek attracted his opponent with a style that suits him until the 40th minute, when he was posted in the middle of a stadium to close spaces to the Raja players, and relied mainly on counterattacks to threaten the visiting goal.

And the game continued in the same way, until the end of the first half, amid the privilege of the Zamalek players to play the defensive role and deprive Raja of threatening Abu Jabal’s goal with dangerous balls.

Moroccan Raja advanced with a surprise goal in the 47th minute of the match, after Ben Malango poked the ball on the edge of the box and hit Abdullah Jumaa’s leg to fool Abu Jabal into the net.

With the departure of Raja in the result, Zamalek turned towards direct offensive play and control of the ball in the center of Raja Stadium, as opposed to the first half.

Zamalek’s pressure continued, and in the 60th minute of the game he approached Raja’s goal, but Bencharki’s shot came over the bar.

Zamalek equalized through Ferjani Sassi in the 62nd minute, after a great ball from Bencharki came off the edge of the box and hit him in the face of the outside foot to hit the right post and settle into the net.

After Zamalek had the qualifying card in hand again, he returned to defense, and Raja again resorted to attack in an attempt to hijack the goal that keeps him in Egypt to play the final against Al-Ahly.

Mustafa Mohamed was able to kill the match in the 84th minute with a superb header after a cross from the right through Ahmed Sayed “Zizou”.

Mustafa Mohamed scored the third goal in the 88th minute after receiving the ball from behind Raja’s defense line to get away with the visitors’ goal, and then managed to get the ball into the net.

Zamalek almost completed the four-way match in the 90th minute through Ashraf Bencharki, if the goal had not been disallowed by the Moroccan player in a clear offside position.

The match ended in Zamalek’s victory to face Al-Ahly in the long-awaited final at the Burj Al Arab Stadium.