On an away trip to the DR of Congo, our Eagles were held to a goalless draw in Lubumbashi against TP Mazembe in the first leg of the CAF Champions League semi-finals at TP Mazembe Stadium.

The Red Eagles had an excellent start to the match with Wessam Abou Ali missing a clear chance in the first minute of the game. 

Despite the bad condition of the turf, our players were able to dominate the game with short passes in the midfield and playing long balls behind the opponent's defense. 

In the 20th minute, Ahmed Abdelkader made a swift pass to Reda Slim, which put him in front of the goal. Reda quickly advanced and shot powerfully, but it went wide.

The home side started to have the control in the final minutes of the first half but we managed to stop all their attempts thanks to our solid defense and the top performance of our goalkeeper, Mostafa Shobeir. 

At the start of the second half, Marcel Koller made two forced changes due to the injury of Reda Slim and Ahmed Nabil Koka, and they were subbed by Percy Tau and Mahmoud Metwally.

Also, the coach made three more substitutions during the second half as Mohamed Magdy Afsha, Mahmoud Kahraba and Taher joined the game to add more energy to our attacking line. 

Taher had our most dangerous chance in the match when Kahraba dribbled the defender and then passed the ball to him right in front of the goal but Mazembe’s defense cleared the ball. 

The hosts put a lot of pressure in the last minutes, but the Reds cohesive defense repelled all attempts until the referee blew the final whistle to end the match in a goalless draw. 

The tie will be decided in Cairo next Friday when Al Ahly is set to host the Congolese side at Cairo Stadium.