Al Ahly pip Roma to win Champions Golden Cup

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Al Ahly pip Roma to win Champions Golden Cup
Al Ahly's Ahmed Fathi Abdelmonem tries to head the ball into the Roma goal as Mohamed Salah (left) defends at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Friday night. Francesco Totti (second right) and Rami Hisham Abdelaziz are also seen.

Published: Sun 22 May 2016, 12:00 AM

Last updated: Mon 23 May 2016, 9:38 AM

Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly secured the Champions Golden Cup with a 4-3 win over Italian giants AS Roma at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Friday night.
Ahly substitute Mohammed Ahmed ran through the Roma defence in the penultimate minute of extra time to clinch a famous win.
The match started with a minute silence remembering the victims of the EgyptAir plane crash.
At the start, the boisterous supporters, majority of them Al Ahly fans, made an exception to applaud one Roma player - the peerless Francesco Totti. "We are all Ahly fans but Totti is one more reason we are here," said a fan wearing the 'King of Roma' T-shirt and an Egyptian club flag in hand.
The proceedings started briskly with attacks from both the sides. Edin Dzeko found the post in the 15th minute for Roma and just as the Italian engine was warming up the 'Masters of the World' struck.
Ghanaian forward John Antwi caught 'I Giallorossi' defence unaware in the 29th minute to net the first goal for the Egyptian side. It was lax defending by Roma that led to the goal.
That did woke up the Italian giants and then followed a series of attacks with Brazilian defender Paderes Leandro, midfielders Kevin Strootman and Pjanic Miralem testing the Al Ahly defence.
In the 19th minute, a gem of a pass by Totti split two defenders to find Edin Dzeko, who converted to make it 1-1. Roma goal silenced the capacity crowd.
In the 41st minute, Totti passed to Ervin Zukanovic who ran through the right line and crossed to Dezko, who passed it to Mohamed Salah with the Egyptian firing it in to take Roma to 2-1. But unlike the first goal by Roma, this one was well celebrated by the fans as it came from the 'Egyptian Messi'.
Al Ahly soon responded and a 42-minute counter-attack saw midfielder Saleh Gomaa Ouda slide in a pass to Moamen Zakaria, who fired in a volley to level the scores at the end of first half.
The next 45 minutes too saw attacks from both sides. In the 55th minute, Zakaria ran through the right flank to fire in a cross that bypassed defender Palmieri Santos and found Waleed Sulaiman, who converted to make it 3-2.
Against the run of play, Roma substitute William Vainqueur shot in a thunderous volley from the right flank to level it at 3-3 in the 90th minute.
Four minutes of extra time were added. And in the 93rd minute, Ahly substitute Ahmed made a solo run through the Italian defence to win it for the Egyptian powerhouse. The HZB erupted with the goal and soon whistles were being heard across the stadium. Second half was more of Al Ahly going on the offense and Roma trying to find a way out each time. Fans swayed to popular Arabic numbers to celebrate as Al Ahly lifted the trophy at the iconic stadium.

By Ashwani Kumar

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