Ahli made it to the final of the African Champions League at the expense of old rival Zamalek. Inas Mazhar reports Egypt's Ahli and Tunisia's Etoile du Sahel are through to the final of the African Champions League after soundly defeating their respective opponents. In Cairo, Ahli beat arch local rivals Zamalek 2-0 on Sunday to reach the final of the $1 million prize competition. The first leg ended in Ahli's favour 2-1. On Saturday, Etoile du Sahel edged North African neighbours Raja Casablanca of Morocc�o 1-0 in the second leg of their semi- final. Etoile had beaten Raja by the same score in Tunis two weeks earlier. This will be Ahli's first appearance in the final in four years while the Tunisian side will be playing their second final in a row. The Champions League final will be played on the weekends of 28-30 October and 11-13 November. The winner of the Champions League will represent Africa in the World Club Championship scheduled to take place in Japan in December. On a cool Ramadan night, both teams played a game pleasing to the eyes of the 25,000 spectators at the Military Academy Stadium. Ahli, wearing their traditional red and Zamalek, in an unfamiliar black short, attacked fearlessly from the start. The first half in particular was flowing though chances were few. When they did come, they were lost. Gamal Hamza, the Zamalek forward, lost a golden opportunity to put his side ahead but his header went straight into the netting instead of into an empty goalmouth. Minutes later Mohamed Shawki should have put Ahli ahead but skewed his shot at an open goal. It was left to Mohamed Barakat to fill in the blanks. The Ahli midfield sensation opened the scoring 17 minutes into the second half, receiving the ball from Gilberto at midfield before netting his team's first goal just outside the box. Barakat then wrapped up the scoring late in the match when striking home from six yards out following a neat backheel from Mohamed Abou Treika. "I'm glad I scored twice," Barakat said. "I was determined. I knew we would win. We were confident but I needed to shore up our confidence by scoring and I was lucky to score twice. "We are now looking forward to winning the final and becoming the first Egyptian team to represent the continent at the World Clubs Championship." Both of Barakat's goals were similar in nature but Zamalek's defenders didn't learn their lesson the first time. With Ahli leading 2-0 and the clock ticking, Zamalek fans started leaving the stadium just as the Ahli supporters began to celebrate. The win was satisfying for Ahli in more ways than one. It allowed the club a foothold in the final of the continent's most prestigious football club tournament. They also continued their recent dominance of Zamalek in their perennial derby and also extended their unbeaten streak to 45 games. Ahli have won the tournament three times and now have the chance to move closer to Zamalek's tally of five victories. As Ahli fans celebrated all night on the streets of Cairo, fighting broke out in front of the home of the Zamalek club president Mortada Mansour. Shots were heard and it was reported that Mansour's daughter had been hit by a stone and was taken to hospital. On live TV following the match, Mansour railed against Ahli, accusing the club's supporters of attacking him, though it was again rumoured that his assailants were in fact Zamalek backers angered by the club's string of recent failures. The future of Zamalek's coach Farouk Gaafar remained up in the air. He was at first reportedly fired but later it was revealed he would not step down before receiving his arrears. In Sousse, hometown of the Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel, a 35-yard free-kick by captain Kais Zouaghi gave the Tunisian side a 2-0 aggregate win over 10-man Raja of Casablanca. Etoile's goalkeeper Austin Ejide was the Tunisian hero, parrying a powerful shot after six minutes from Abdul-Karim Fofana. The hosts hit back 20 minutes into the second half when Zouaghi surprised Raja goalkeeper Mustapha Chadli, who was off guard and despairingly aided the ball into his own net. Etoile had a chance to stretch the lead when a Moroccan defender Abdel-Samad Abdel-Wahed was shown the red card 67th minute into the match. But Etoile's Seif Ghezal lost the chance of scoring. The Tunisians lost last year's final to the eventual winner Eniymba of Nigeria after a penalty shootout. In the Confederation Cup, Nigerian side Dolphins booked their place in the final after drawing 0-0 with Egypt's Ismaili on Sunday. The draw secured the leadership of Group B for the Nigerian champions who will now play Royal Armed Forces of Morocco in November's two- legged final. The final will be the first major Confederation of African Football competition to be played between a Nigerian and Moroccan side. The Nigerians will host the first leg of the final on 4-6 November while the decisive tie will be played in Rabat on the weekend of 18-20 November. A victory for the Ismaili in Port Harcourt would have taken them through to the final but they were unable to find a way past the Nigerian defence. The Nigerians missed several scoring opportunities themselves. Ismaili goalkeeper Mohamed Sabri pulled off several fine saves, including a penalty with three minutes to go. In other Group B action on Sunday, FC105 Libreville of Gabon picked up their first victory of the group stages in their final game by beating Egypt's Arab Contractors 1-0 in the Gabonese capital. Neither the win nor the loss had any bearing on the final placement of the two teams.
