Wydad beat Al Ahly to become CAF Champions League winners
Wydad Casablanca has a new hero in Zouheir El Moutaraji, whose brace gave them a third African Champions League title in the final against Al-Ahly Cairo (2-0), in a crazy atmosphere at home on Monday.
A sumptuous shot (15th), a goal of hunter in two times (48th), the N.7 of the Reds of Casa made twice explode the Mohamed V stadium, for the third C1 of WAC.
The National of Cairo, king of Africa with 10 C1 won, had to bow to the inspirations of the Moroccan striker.
Zouheir El Moutaraji opened the scoring with a fantastic shot from 30 meters, which went into the top corner of Mohamed El-Shenawy’s net (15th).
Then on a counter, in two steps, his first shot being pushed back by the Egyptian goalkeeper, the N.7 of WAC devoured Mohamed Hany, the Egyptian defender, and doubled the stake just after the break, literally setting fire to the Mohamed V stadium of Casablanca, where the final was played, the Egyptians having challenged in vain before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) the choice of playing the final in the venue of his opponent.
Third crown for Wydad
After 1992 and 2017, already against Al Ahly, but in two sets (1-1/1-0), the Reds of Casablanca join the Greens of Raja, their great rival of the Moroccan economic capital, crowned three times in African C1.
Wydad, whose name means “Love” and comes from a film by the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kalsoum, deserved their victory for playing their final with great intensity.
Their powerful Congolese striker Guy Mbenza smashed a powerful shot against the crossbar (11th).
Al-Ahly, the two-time defending champions missed a hat-trick and failed to respond, despite a chance from Taher Mohamed (35th) or a shot from Mohamed “Afsha” Magdy that was blocked by Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti.
The Moroccan goalkeeper was again decisive in front of Mohamed Sherif (82nd), from close range, making the boiling WAC crowd explode with joy.
This is the first triumph for coach Walid Regragui (46), who has played in Ligue 1, including Toulouse and AC Ajaccio. He defeated the South African coach of Al-Ahly, Pitso Mosiman, winner of the last two editions and of the C1 2016 with Mamelodi Sundowns, the Pretoria club.
