South African forward Percy Tau was in breathtaking form on Saturday as he led Al Ahly's 4-0 demolition of ES Setif in the first leg of their CAF Champions League semi-final fixture.
Tau scored two (2) goals and bagged one (1) assist as the Egyptian giants ran riot over their Algerian visitors at the Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo on Saturday night.
The result gives the Pitso Mosimane-led side a healthy advantage heading into the second leg of the last-four clash as they seek to make it three finals and three CAF Champions League trophies in a row.
Al Ahly annihilate ES Setif in Cairo
Al Ahly started the match on the front foot having a goal by Taher Mohamed disallowed by the VAR in just the fifth (5th) minute.
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Denied earlier, Mohamed turned provider in the 30th minute as Al Ahly finally made their sustained pressure count through Tau's first goal of the night.
ES Setif's task was made much more difficult when the VAR upgraded Amir Karaoui's yellow card to a red card in the 35th minute.
The Egyptians came out from the halftime break with renewed enthusiasm and Mohamed finally got his goal to double Al Ahly's advantage in the 54th minute.
Tau turned provider in the 72nd minute to facilitate Mohamed Sherif's goal for 3-0 before the South African forward rounded off the scoring in the 90th minute to give Al Ahly a 4-0 victory.
Al Ahly gunning for third consecutive CAF Champions League title
Mosimane and Al Ahly are targeting an unprecedented third consecutive CAF Champions League trophy after winning the 2020 and 2021 trophies under the former Mamelodi Sundowns manager.
The record 10-time African champions have fallen short of the feat twice, after winning consecutive titles in 2005 & 2006 and 2012 & 2013 but never winning the third straight title.
TP Mazembe (1967 & 1968, 2009 & 2010), ES Tunis (2018 & 2019), and Enyimba (2003 & 2004) are the only other teams to have won two consecutive CAF Champions League titles.
Al Ahly will travel to the Stade du 5 Juillet on Saturday, May 14 for the return leg of their clash with ES Setif with full confidence of playing at the final of the 2021/22 CAF Champions League to be held at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo, Nigeria.