Barcelona came to celebrate Ahli's 100th anniversary, writes Alaa Abdel-Ghani. For the crowds, though, the Spanish giants proved party-poopers Ahli could not have received a nicer present for its 100th birthday bash than an engaging encounter with the boys from Barcelona. But the defending European champions dampened the festivities with a methodical 4-0 trouncing of their dazed hosts in a boisterous-turned-sombre Cairo Stadium on Tuesday night. The sellout crowd of 76,000, some of whom had shelled out LE3,000 a ticket, were of two emotions and minds. They had wanted to see Ronaldinho, Eto'o, Messi and Deco up close and watch first-hand what you can get for 259 million euros -- Barca is the second richest club on the planet. But the public in the stands and watching on TV also wanted Ahli to win. They were destined for disappointment. Barcelona's Dutch coach Frank Rijkaard did the opposite of what was expected. He kept his big guns warming the bench and instead deployed a first half line-up of mainly substitutes. The reserves did well, silencing the hugely vocal and animated crowd with two quick goals by Javiar Saviola and Thiago Motta. By the second half Ahli were already a spent force but still had to contend with the firepower of Barcelona's standing 11. Wave after wave of Catalan attacks picked Ahli's defence apart, the Cameroonian Eto'o ghosting past the opposing red shirts for two more precision strikes. Gianluca Zambrotta, Lilian Thuram and Victor Valdes took care of the other end, stopping any Ahli threat from germinating. Ahli had been hoping to emulate its famous 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in 2001 when the Spanish club fielded players of the quality of Raul, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos. But Barcelona, which has had Maradona, Cruyff and Ronaldo wearing its shirt, appeared to have come to Cairo with more serious intentions than Real Madrid and in the end Ahli needed the valiant efforts of star goalkeeper Essam El-Hadari to prevent a goal tally similar to the 6-1 drubbing Barcelona inflicted on Ahli 46 years ago. Tuesday's result was not exactly how the current African champions would have liked to cap their centennial celebrations. The club is much more used to winning games and championships than being at the wrong end of a lopsided score as their 99 major football trophies in 100 years attest. But in the end it was only a friendly match and it would be silly if the final outcome, embarrassing as it is, was allowed to spoil the celebrations of 100 years of Ahli history. Ahli was established partly by the British, who wanted to set up a sports club which would give teenagers something to do other than plot the speedy exit of the occupation. With a different purpose in mind, Ahli's founder, senior official Omar Lutfi Bey, wanted a purely national club to counter British dominance of the country, which extended to sports. Ahli cost LE5,000 (when the brown back was a brown back). Its Egyptian board chose Englishman Mitchel Ince as its first president in order to get the blessings of the occupation authorities (Ince would be the first and last foreign president) and the club's first board meeting was on 24 April 1907. Nationalist figures who were either on Ahli's board or members of the club included Lutfi, Aziz Ezzat, Abdel-Khaleq Tharwat, Idris Ragheb, Ismail Serri, Amin Sami, Mohamed Sherif Sabri and Talaat Harb. Among its most famous supporters were Saad Zaghlul, the nationalist leader who rallied against British occupation, and former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser. Cognizant of Ahli's fan base and immense social influence, Egypt's leaders have not shied from associating themselves with the club. Ahli was under the protection of King Fouad in 1929, and Nasser became an honorary president in 1956. King Farouk would be in attendance when the legendary Um Kalthoum sang the night away in the club's interior. Tuesday's match attracted President Hosni Mubarak, his young grandson perched on his lap. It also saw the return of Cairo's chic crowd with their brand name apparel, out in abundance during last year's African Cup of Nations but seemingly in hibernation since. This time, though, there would be no trophy held aloft and Ahli's avid supporters instead spent a good part of the game silenced by their club's largely insipid performance. Ahli's star striker, Mohamed Abu Treika, did his level best, several times marauding close to Barca's goal, but his teammates were woefully far from form and failed to provide the crucial assistance. The Ahli seen against Barcelona seemed far from the club showered with accolades, the most crowned football club in Egypt which has won the league 31 times, more than the sum of all other Egyptian clubs, and the Egyptian Cup a record 34 times. It has captured every imaginable Arab and African championship and managed to finish in third place in last year's World Cup for clubs in Japan. In 2000 Ahli's membership cards began bearing the legend "African club of the 20th century", a designation awarded by the African football federation. Several of Egypt's greats have worn its famed red shirt: Hussein Hegazi, Mokhtar El-Titch, Ahmed Mekkawi, Saleh Selim, Rifaat El-Fanagili, Taha Ismail and Mahmoud El-Khatib. It has been coached by 38 managers, 14 of them Egyptian. The foreigners have included Nandor Hidegkuti of the famed Magical Magyars, and Don Revie, a former England coach. Facing Barcelona on Tuesday, Ahli could have used some of those names from the past.
