CAF Champions League: Wissem Abou Ali’s hattrick helps Al Ahly disintegrate Belouizdad 6-1

Belouizdad was the only club that in both legs didn’t taste a defeat against Al Ahly in the 2023-24 CAF Champions League.

In Group D alongside Young Africans of Tanzania and Medeama of Ghana, both games ended goalless draws but the Algerians surprisingly could not book a place in the knockout stage.

The outstanding fixture promised to be cagey considering how the North Africans meetings have been in the Champions League and the Confederation Cup in recent years.

The round three fixture was supposed to be played on Saturday 14th December but was rescheduled to Sunday 22nd December due to the Egyptians’ involvement in the semi-finals of the FIFA Club World semi-finals against Mexican side Pachuca where they subsequently lost on penalties.

Al Ahly went down by a lone goal with just 22 minutes played to Aymen Mahiuo’s strike.

Palestinian striker Abou Ali Wessam restored parity on the stroke of halftime for the Red Devils.

In the second half, the Egyptians showed why they are the red-hot favourites to win the CAF Champions League again. Abou Ali made it 2-1 in the 51st minute, and Hussein El Shahat made it 3-1 five minutes later for the Egyptian giants.

Abou Ali scored his third and the fourth for Al Ahly with six minutes to end the 90 minutes. Bafana Bafana forward Percy Tau added the 5th in the 86th minute and later assisted midfielder Emam Ashour to round off the afternoon for the defending champions.

Marcel Koller was extremely delighted with the Grade A performance of his team.

Al Ahly’s five-star performance has sent a huge message to their rivals that it will take something spectacular for anyone to snatch the trophy away from them.

Since the 5-2 defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns on 11 March 2023, Al Ahly has achieved the longest unbeaten streak in the CAF Champions League history having played 27 matches without defeat in 3 different seasons.

The Red Devils have recorded 19 wins and 8 draws.