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VIDEO: Error-prone Ahly held to 3-3 draw by Wydad Wydad strike late to hold an error-prone Ahly side to a thrilling 3-3 draw in their opening African Champions League group stage game on Sunday
Egyptian champions Ahly surrendered their lead twice to allow Morocco's Wydad Casablanca to hold them to a thrilling 3-3 draw in a Champions League encounter played behind closed doors at Cairo's Military Academy Stadium. Missing the vociferous chants of their fans due to a sanction imposed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Ahly, who were recently crowned Egyptian league champions, fell behind after two minutes through an own goal by defender Sherif Abdel-Fadil. Striker Emad Meteb equalized shortly after and defender Wael Gomaa converted a penalty midway through the first half to put Ahly in front. Lively forward Mouhssine Iajour brought Wydad level with a fine volley after making the most of dreadful defensive blunders one minute past the hour mark but Mauritania striker Dominique Da Silva looked to have given Ahly a precious win with a 75th-minute goal. Iajour struck his second of the night with two minutes remaining after Abdel-Fadil committed another mistake as Wydad made it 3-3 to secure a share of spoils in their first Group B game. Mouloudia Alger were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Tunisia's Esperance in the other group match earlier on Saturday. League hangover Ahly, who appeared to suffer from league hangover, were stunned after two minutes when Ayoub El Khaliqi found space on the right to whip in a cross which Abdel-Fadil, under pressure from Congolese striker Fabrice N'Guessi, converted into his own net. However, television replays showed that N'Guessi was in an offside position when El Khaliqi sent in the cross at the near post. Ahly leveled the score just two minutes later when burly frontman Dominique, under pressure from several defenders in the area, battled to keep the ball before feeding the unmarked Meteb to notch home with aplomb from close range. Wydad remained dangerous on the break as a shaky-looking Ahly defense struggled to deal with the visitors' attacking trio N'Guessi, Iajour and Ahmed Ajeddou. Ajeddo almost restored Wydad's advantage when he a met a cross from the right with a side-foot shot that went just wide of the post. Ahly, despite appearing on the back foot, went ahead on 23 minutes when they were awarded a penalty after Wydad defender Mourad El Mssane needlessly handled a cross to receive a yellow card. New spot-kick specialist Gomaa stepped up to convert the penalty into the bottom corner despite a desperate attempt from the keeper, who dived the right way, to block it. Sluggish Ahly Ahly remained sluggish after the break, with deep-lying forward Mohamed Nagy ‘Gedo' hardly feeding isolated duo Meteb and Dominque. However, Meteb still had a golden chance to put the result beyond doubt in the 59th minute when he latched onto a through pass to break the offside trap and go clear but his poor low shot was easily saved by the keeper. Ahly were punished for the wasted effort two minutes later after some sloppy defending allowed Wydad to make it 2-2. N'Guessi superbly tricked defender Ahmed El-Sayed on the edge of the area before sending a pinpoint cross to the far post, where Iajour escaped his marker to volley home. El-Sayed, who looked angry at himself after allowing N'Guessi to skip past him in the build-up, was immediately replaced, making way for youngster Rami Rabiea. Newly-arrived forward El-Sayed Hamdy, who joined from Petrojet few days ago, was also introduced to make his Ahly debut. He came on instead of Gedo, who was largely a peripheral figure. Ahly regained their lead on 75 minutes after a defense-splitting pass by central midfielder Hossam Ghaly found Dominique, whose initial attempt to control the ball could have let him down but his pace allowed him to gather it before the keeper to slot into an empty net. Iajour broke Ahly's hearts two minutes from time when a through pass struck the back of the poorly-positioned Abdel-Fadil and fell into his path to send a deflected shot past guardian Ahmed Adel, giving Wydad a valuable draw in Cairo.
