Mamelodi Sundowns are giving Al Ahly plenty of discomfort reasons ahead of the two clubs’ latest meeting at the Cairo International Stadium on Friday.
After playing out a goalless draw in the first leg of this semi-final tie last Saturday, there has to be a winner in Cairo – be it in regulation time or on penalties.
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Besides going through with a win, Sundowns will have the away goal’s rule swinging in their favour should today’s match end in any scoring draw - be it 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 or whatever stalemate with goals.
While this is The Brazilians’ first trip to Egypt this season, it is a trip that they are not only familiar with but one that hasn’t brought them defeat in their last four travels there.
The last time they played in Cairo, they won 1-0 against Pyramids FC during the group stage of last season’s competition.
This was in December 2023.
A month earlier, they played a goalless draw in the semi-finals of the African Football League on their way to reaching the final and ultimately lifting the trophy after winning the first leg at home.
Earlier that same year, they played a 2-2 draw against Al Ahly in the group phase of the 2022/23 edition.
The Chloorkop-based side also won 1-0 at today’s venue in February 2022 on their way to finishing top of Group A in the 2020/21 competition.
Beyond that, they are also unbeaten in the last eight meetings between the two clubs
To get to when Miguel Cardoso’s men last came out as losers against Al Ahly, the clock has to rewind back to May 2021.
Though Al Ahly are always carried by their vociferous home crowd, Sundowns will not fear this having gone past a similar hostile away match in Tunis against Esperance in the quarterfinals.
The Tshwane giants have played the Egyptian heavyweights in 17 matches, with each winning five, while seven have ended in draws.
The match today pits the two top-ranked teams on the latest CAF 5-year club ranking system.
CAF uses this ranking system based on results from the preceding five years to determine which member association enters two clubs in its competitions, along with club seeding matters ahead of draws in both the Champions League and Confederation Cup.
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Points are weighed according to the year of performance and then multiplied by a coefficient according to the year, with the most recent year carrying more value.
The Champions League carries more weight than the Confederation Cup.
