Two giants of the African football are set to collide on Saturday in the quarterfinal of the Caf Champions League, which bring with it a sense of anticipation and excitement.
Al Ahly and Mamelodi Sundowns have met on four previous occasions in the Caf Champions League which included the 2001 Champions League final where the Egyptians won 4-1 on aggregate.
However, the most recent encounter between the two sides was back in the 2007 edition of the tournament.
With a place in the group stages on the line, the two sides were once again pitted against each another, but the outcome remained the same.
The first leg which was played in Tshwane, bore witness to an enthralling clash that ended in a 2-2 stalemate.
On the day, Mohamed Barakat put Al Ahly ahead in the 27th minute before Flavio doubled the Egyptian’s advantage just after the resumption of the second half.
Sundowns though did not give up and showed a never-say-die attitude, producing a spectacular comeback in the space of 10 minutes.
Oscar Ntwagae reduced the deficit in the 79th minute with a header before Jose Torrealba ensured that the Brazilians still had a chance heading into the game in Cairo.
The Venezuelan netted in the 89th minute and Downs had it all to play for heading into the return leg just over two weeks later.
Nonetheless, with everything still to play for, as expected a rather daunting atmosphere awaited the Tshwane giants.
It was a tight first half which yielded no goals, but with Sundowns desperate to secure the victory and find the decisive goal, they fell foul to their own tactics as Shady put Al Ahly ahead from the penalty spot with 20 minutes to go.
With Al Ahly in front, the floodgates then opened up and talisman Mohamed Aboutreika delivered the killer blow that not only saw Sundowns succumb to a 4-2 aggregate defeat but also saw them exit the continent’s most prestigious inter-club competition.
Meanwhile, the star-studded Red Devils would then go on to reach the Caf Champions League final yet again but were eventually defeated at the final hurdle by Etoile du Sahel, losing 3-1 on aggregate.
