Analysis: Al Ahly killed itself, and Sundowns capitalise on Pošećić's blunders!

Al Ahly leaned on relentless passing inside Sundowns' final third, with a player breaking from deep to exploit the space behind the opposition defence. The idea surfaced more than once through Francisco Trincao, and through Ziyad El Jehani too.

Those movements kept the Sundowns defence shifting constantly and carried Al Ahly into dangerous areas. The problem lay in the final touch. Squandered chances denied the team the reward its superiority deserved.

Al Ahly should have stuck with this approach for longer, especially with Sundowns committing bodies forward and leaving clear gaps behind them. Al Ahly could have punished those gaps with pace and quick transitions.

As the game wore on, though, Al Ahly dropped deeper and lost the ability to exploit the spaces that had been there at the start. That handed Sundowns the chance to impose their rhythm far more.

Posecki switched the roles of Ivan Toney and Firas Al-Buraikan to exploit the latter's pace and his knack for running into space. It paid off in the build-up to Al-Ahly's goal.

Toney, meanwhile, became a playmaker for much of the match. He drifted out of the penalty area and left room for runners arriving from deep, giving Al-Ahly more flexibility to build attacks and reach the Sundowns goal.

The idea largely worked in the first half. Al-Ahly failed to make the most of it, though, wasting the chances they created. Its impact then faded as the team pushed forward less and fewer players were left to exploit the spaces.

Another side of Posecki's decision-making surfaced here. He was late to bring on Galeno, the man capable of punishing the spaces behind the Sundowns defence. By the time he arrived, the opponent had already scored a second goal and dropped deep, and the spaces he was meant to attack had vanished.

Sundowns had possession, but they weren't content merely to knock the ball around. They targeted the flanks and pumped in crosses, having spotted an Al Ahly weakness in dealing with balls delivered from wide.

The first goal arrived that way. Sundowns slid the ball in behind the defence, Nuno Santos exploited the absence of cover and struck the opener, then the same scenario played out again in the second half from a cross on the right.

This was where the gulf between the two sides showed. Al Ahly had spaces to exploit but failed to attack them with the same intensity, while Sundowns kept pressing from the flanks and probing the weak point in the Al Ahly defence.

Retreating in the second half only invited more Sundowns pressure. The side sat back to protect its own territory rather than threaten the opponent's goal, and the danger gradually shifted towards Al Ahly's net.

Mohamed Abdel Rahman's introduction turned the match. He came on for Saeed Ba'atiyah, and within seconds Al-Ahli had conceded a second through Nuno Santos.

Failing to track Santos inside the box, Abdel Rahman let the Sundowns man find the space to turn in the cross for his second goal and settle the contest.

He cannot shoulder the blame alone. But the moment laid bare Al-Ahli's real problem: dealing with crosses and marking, especially as Sundowns pulled off the same trick twice.

Pošić started with good ideas and made them count, exploiting spaces and deploying Toney, Al-Buraikan and Trincão to good effect. The second half was another story. His retreat and his changes did nothing to help the team.

The delay in bringing on Galeno topped the list. By the time he arrived, Sundowns had already netted their second and dropped deep, so the spaces he might have attacked were gone. The attacking card came far too late.

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