This is Kaizer Chiefs‘ first ever CAF Champions League final, and they have a mountain to climb as they face defending champions Al Ahly.
LIVE: CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL: KAIZER CHIEFS VS AL AHLY
The titanic one-legged final is taking place at Stade Mohammed V in Morocco; the neutral venue chosen by CAF.
There scoreline was still 0-0 after 15 minutes as both Chiefs 0-0 Al Ahly were still weighing each other up from midfield.
Samir Nurkovic had the first shot on target in the 16th minute when he tested El Shenawy with an out-of-the-box attempt.
Chiefs stood firm in the first 30 minutes of the game, and consequently forced Al Ahly to take shots from outside the box.
None of Al Ahly’s shots from afar gave Chiefs goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi problems as the attackers skied their efforts.
Al Ahly had a penalty shout turned down on the stroke of half-time when Mohamed Sherif went down inside the Chiefs box from an attempted slide by Akpeyi.
There was drama just before the interval when a Happy Mashiane tackle which had been awarded to Al Ahly was reviewed by VAR.
Mashiane was initially given a yellow card but that was turned into a red-card following a VAR review by the referee.
Both teams went into the half-time break locked at 0-0 with Chiefs down 10 men after Mashiane’s dismissal.
Khama Billiat was introduced at the start of the second half, replacing Nkosingiphile Ngcobo as Baxter looked for more pace upfront for transitions.
It took Al Ahly seven minutes into the second half to take the lead when a sublime pass was played to Mohamed Sherif on the edge of the box.
And Sherif was found himself unmarked as he easily beat on-rushing Akpeyi for his side’s opening goal of the game.
Kaizer Chiefs starting XI vs Al Ahly: Akpeyi, Mphahlele, Frosler, Mathoho, Cardoso, Katsande, Blom, Ngcobo, Mashiane, Parker and Nurkovic.
Chiefs bench: Bruce Bvuma, Khama Billiat, Leonardo Castro, Lazarous Kambole, Philani Zulu, Anthony Agay, Yagan Sasman, Siphosakhe Ntiya-Ntiya, Siyabonga Ngezana.
Al Ahly starting XI vs Chiefs: El Shenawy, Maaloul, Banoun, Ayman, Akram, Hamdy, El Soulia, El Shahat, Afsha, Taher, Sherif.
