Al Ahly have clinched the 2022 Egyptian Super Cup after beating arch-rivals Zamalek at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in the United Arab of Emirates.
Zamalek had clinched the domestic double last season over Al Ahly and therefore both teams secured their spots in the 2022 Egypt Super Cup.
The game was played at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, UAE for the third time after the 2016 and 2018 versions, which saw Al Ahly defeat both Zamalek and Al Masry.
The stadium’s luck charm continued with the Reds as they clinched the title for the 12th time following a comfortable 2-0 victory over their rivals.
Marcel Koller didn’t do major changes in Al Ahly’s starting line-up, with Amr El-Sulya coming in for the injured Aliou Dieng and Taher returning to the starting XI after the end of his suspension.
On the other hand, Hossam Abdelmigued replaced the injured Mahmoud Hamdy El-Wensh in the three-man defence, with the rest of the team staying as it is.
The Whites were also handed a massive blow before the start of the game after Samson Akinyoola pulled out of the squad due to injury.
The game started calmly from both sides, with the first real chance coming in the 23rd minute when Ahmed Abdelkader broke through Zamalek’s defence with a skillful solo run, before playing a low cross to Taher Mohamed, whose strike went high.
The bad news didn’t stop coming for Zamalek after Ahmed Fetouh was forced off with an injury and was replaced by Sayed Abdallah in the 30th minute.
In the 39th minute, Al Ahly broke the deadline through Bruno Savio who intercepted a miss pass from Zakria Al-Wardi, before dribbling past Mohamed Abdelghani and then finding the back of the net with a beautiful curling effort.
At half-time, Ferreria made a second change as he brought in Mostafa Shalby for Zakaria Al-Wardi who was in danger of a second yellow card.
Zamalek went in the second-half searching for an early equaliser and could have done it through Zizo and Omar Gaber if it wasn’t for a last-ditch tackle from Ali Maaloul.
Mostafa Shalby then found Zizo with an impressive through ball, but the latter’s volley went over Mohamed El-Shennawy’s bar.
Zamalek continued their strong attacking form and saw Zizo hit the bar from over 30 yards with a powerful effort.
Shikabala and Amr El-Sisi came on for Jaziri and Rouka, with Koller responding by bringing Afsha and Mohamed Sherif.
Al Ahly nearly doubled their lead on three different occasions through Mohamed Sherif if it wasn’t for Mohamed Awad who denied the striker from close range with impressive saves.
Zamalek had another chance to equalize through Zizo from a dangerous set-piece, but was brilliantly denied by Mohamed El-Shennawy.
Al Ahly put the game to bed in the 92nd minute when Taher Mohamed dribbled brilliantly past Abdelghani, before finding Karim Fouad with a low cross, who easily tapped the ball in.
The last three minutes didn’t witness much and Al Ahly brought on Percy Tau and Mohamed Fakhri to waste the time and managed to do so.
The title becomes Al Ahly’s 12th in the club’s history and their first since 2019 after losing the last two titles to Zamalek and Tala’ea El Geish.
Highlight of the game.
