Al-Ahly and Egypt legend Mohamed Aboutrika urge his former club to withdraw from the African Champions League, after reaching the final, in order to preserve its position and prestige against the injustice of CAF, as he described it. Al-Ahly got past ES Sétif 6-2 despite drawing the second leg of their semi-final in Algeria. South Africa’s Percy Tau had a hand in all six of Al Ahly’s goals over the two legs, scoring two of them himself. Al Ahly will meet Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca in the final of the CAF Champions League in Morocco.Following the end of the match, Aboutrika wrote on his Twitter account: "Congratulations to Al-Ahly for reaching the final and good luck to ES Setif."
Aboutrika added: "Sometimes withdrawing from a decisive match is considered winning- championship in itself. I wish Al-Ahly club's officials to withdraw from the tournament in order to maintain its leadership and prestige against the injustice of the CAF.”
In turn, the Egyptian Al-Ahly FC announced that an emergency meeting will be held on Sunday afternoon, headed by Mahmoud Al-Khatib, and in the presence of the Board of Directors of Al-Ahly Football Company. The Council will discuss all matters related to the crisis of the final match of the Champions League, after the decision- described as unfair- which was issued late by the Confederation of African Football, assigning the organization of the final match to a particular stadium for the second year in a row.
Al-Ahly considers the decision to assign one of the rivals to the final match the opportunity to play in its stadium and in the midst of its fans, at the expense of the other party is unfair. CAF had announced that the final match of the African Champions League would be assigned to Morocco for the second year in a row, which gives Wydad, who qualified for the final, the advantage. On Thursday, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed its adherence to holding the final of the African Champions League in Morocco, and from one match, despite the protest of Al-Ahly of Egypt.