Al Ahly defeats YANGA go grab top spot in group D

Al-Ahly, the reigning champions, concluded the group stage of the CAF Champions League with a 1-0 victory over Tanzania’s Young Africans (Yanga SC) in Egypt on Friday.

The victory in Cairo solidified the position of the home side at the top of Group A with 12 points, while Yanga finished second with eight points. Despite losing the match the Tanzanian visitors secured their spots in the quarter-finals thus, eliminating Algeria’s Belouizdad and Medeama of Ghana.

Ahly’s only goal of the match came from Hussein El-Shahat in the 46th minute, securing all the three points at stake for the Egyptians. With both sides already securing qualification for the knockout stages, Al Ahly head coach Marcel Koller decided to field a different lineup with Amr El-Sulya getting his first start this season while Anthony Modeste benched new-signing Wessam Abou Ali.

The opening half saw Al Ahly fail to create any real threat on goal as goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir pulled off a number of good saves to keep the hosts in the game. Hussein El-Shahat, who grabbed the winner away at Medeama last week, found the breakthrough three minutes after the restart after tapping home Ali Maaloul’s cutback.