Defending Champions Al Ahly’s defeated Sudan’s Al Merrikh SC 3-0 at Cairo International Stadium in the CAF Champions League group stage on Tuesday. 

The 3-0 victory over Al Merrikh SC today is the biggest victory that the club achieved in an opening game of the CAF Champions League group stage.

The victory against Al Merrikh was secured thanks to goals from Afsha, Kahraba, and Walter Bwalya

Al Ahly has now managed to score three goals in the opening match of the CAF Champions League group stage on three occasions..

In 1999, the Red Eagles defeated Shooting Stars SC of Nigeria. The three goals were scored by Shady Mohamed, Mohamed Gouda, and Ahmed Belal.

Al Ahly also scored three goals against Angola’s Petro Atlético in 2001 and the goals were scored by Alaa Ibrahim, Sunday Chibuike, and Ahmed Abu Mosalam.

One of the goal scorers Walter Bwalya also achieved a record of his own by scoring on his African debut.

Bwalya became the first Congolese player and the 18th foreigner to score a goal for the Red Eagles in the African competitions.

Amado Flavio, who scored 18 goals for the Red Eagles, leads the list of Al Ahly’s foreign players who scored in the African competitions and is followed by Walid Azzaro who scored 13 goals.

Al Ahly’s current players: Ali Maaloul and Junior Ajayi come in third and fourth place in the list with 9 goals and 6 goals respectively.

Coach Pitso Mosimane was delighted with the professional display by his team on the day.

“We scored late today, but in the end, we managed to secure our first 3 points in the 2021 CAF Champions League group stage. Our opponent today stood their ground during the first half, but once we scored the opener we controlled the game,” said Mosimane.

“I kept the team’s tactics the same even before scoring the goals. We depended today on the wings as Al Merrikh were blocking the center of the field.

“The crosses played an important role in today’s victory, as Afsha managed to score the opener from Hany’s cross.”

“We missed 5 starters in today’s game. Also, I preferred to rest some players such as Hamdy Fathy and I gave playing time to Saad Samir, Mahmoud Wahid, and Ahmed Ramadan, as they did not participate in the previous games,” he concluded.