African Champions League holders advance to the knockouts without dazzling
Defending champions Al Ahly ended the group phase of the African Champions League undefeated but with another laboured performance, although their rivals will know the Egyptians have a history of plodding through the league format before going on to dominate the knockout stages.
Al Ahly finished top of Group D with three wins and three draws but only six goals scored in as many games, securing their progress with a match to spare. They finished with a 1-0 home victory over Young Africans, dominating play but proving wasteful in front of goal with winger Hussein El Shahat scoring the second-half winner.
But it was the first time since 2019 that Al Ahly finished top of their group. In the four subsequent editions, they finished runners-up in their group only to show massive improvement from the quarter-finals onwards and go on to reach the final every year, winning three of the four titles.
It means none of the other seven sides who are through to March and April’s quarter-finals will be reading anything into Al Ahly’s form.
Petro Atletico from Angola set a new mark as the first side in the 28 years of the CAF Champions League’s existence to go through the six matches of the group phase without conceding. They scored five goals, and like Al Ahly won three and drew three of their matches to finish unbeaten in Group C, ahead of Tunisia’s Esperance.
Esperance were one of the four clubs who had previously shared the record for the fewest goals conceded during the group phase, letting in just one goal in the 1999 edition.
Petro Atletico had also secured their quarter-final berth with a game to spare but needed a 2-0 home success over Etoile Sahel, the other Tunisian club in the group, to finish one point ahead of Esperance. That win in Luanda included a first Champions League goal for Jonathan Toro from Honduras, one of several imports that have come via Portugal and significantly strengthened Petro’s squad.
South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns finished the group phase with the most points, registering 13 out of a possible 18, but did lose at TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo in early December. That one-goal defeat in Lubumbashi was the only time they conceded.
Once again, the Pretoria-based side look the team to beat in terms of their flowing style of play and finishing. But too often have they impressed in the group competition only to implode in the final stages.
Sundowns’ 1-0 victory over TP Mazembe in their final Group A game, which secured top spot, bro
