Al Ahly defeated Al Ittihad Alexandria Club 2-1 on Thursday night in the 20th week of the Egyptian Premier League at Alexandria Stadium.
Badr Benoun opened the score from the spot in the opening five minutes of the second half. Five minutes later, Afsha doubled the score to secure the victory, despite conceding a late goal by Mohamed El Sabahy.
Al Ahly returned from Alexandria with three vital points ahead of Cairo Derby, scheduled on 10 may.
We have reached 40 points and we come second in the league table, four points behind the leaders, but we still have two games in hand.
Strong Start
The Red Eagles had a strong start to the game with Aliou Dieng testing Al Ittihad's goalkeeper, Mohamed Sobhy, who stopped his attempt.
Sobhy was the hero again for Al Ittihad when he stopped another shot from El Shahat.
In the 36 minute, we had a clear chance to open the score when Marwan Mohsen passed the ball to Afsha who passed it to El Shahat. El Shahat fired a shot, but he mised the target and the ball went to a goal kick.
Second Half
A perfect start to the second half from our players. Dieng passed the ball to Marwan who went one vs one with the goalkeeper, which forced the opponent's defender to tackle him and the referee awarded us a penalty. Benoun converted it into the back of Sobhy's net to give us a 1-0 lead.
Five minutes later, Al Ahly added the second goal thanks to Afsha's header which met a sensational cross from Hussein.
The Red Eagles kept their pressure, and Benoun added his second goal in the game and Al Ahly's third, but VAR disallowed the goal due to offside.
The minutes went on and Al Ittihad scored a late goal by Mohamed El Sabahy which was not enough for the home team to avoid the defeat as the referee blew his whistle to declare Al Ahly victorious.
Mini Match
Venue: Alexandria Stadium
Referee: Mahmoud El Banna
Al Ahly's Starting Line-up:
El Shenawy, Benoun, Hany, Yasser, Wahid, El Soulia, Dieng, El Shahat, Afsha, Salah Mohsen and Marwan Mohsen.
Substitutions:
Yasser Ibrahim (Ayman Ashraf)
Salah Mohsen (Walid Soliman)
Marwan Mohsen (Mohamed Sherif)
Mohamed Hany (Akram Tawfik)
Goals
Badr Benoun '50
Afsha '55
Mohamed El Sabahy '92
Yellow Cards
Badr Benoun
Upcoming Match
Al Ahly vs Zamalek on 10 May
