DOHA – Mohamed Sherif and Salah Mohsen scored in the second half to give Al Ahly of Egypt a 2-0 win over Renaissance Berkane of Morocco in the CAF Super Cup match on Friday, and a 21st African title.
Forward Sherif finished off a sweeping passing move by hammering a left-foot shot past goalkeeper Zouhair Laaroubi into the far corner on 57 minutes.
Unmarked fellow forward Mohsen doubled the lead eight minutes from time in Qatari capital Doha by rounding Laaroubi and pushing the ball into the net.
Success for Ahly ended a run of upsets in the Super Cup with Champions League title-holders Esperance of Tunisia losing the 2019 and 2020 matches, also in Qatar.
South Africa-born Ahly coach Pitso Mosimane has now won four CAF competitions, one less than the most successful African, Tunisian Faouzi Benzarti.
The annual match between the CAF Champions League and second-tier CAF Confederation Cup winners was watched by a crowd limited to 7,000 in the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium because of coronavirus protocols.
It was a fiercely contested affair with the Algerian referee having to separate rivals just before half-time after one of many injury stoppages that spoilt the game.
The result confirmed the supremacy of Ahly among African clubs with nine victories in the Champions League, seven in the Super Cup, four in the African Cup Winners Cup and one in the Confederation Cup.
They have won 10 more titles than the next most successful clubs, fellow Egyptians Zamalek and TP Mazembe from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ahly qualified for the Super Cup by defeating Zamalek in the 2020 Champions League final while Berkane secured their place with a victory over Pyramids of Egypt in the Confederation Cup decider.
The Cairo Red Devils will face Esperance next month in the semi-finals of the current Champions League after eliminating Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa last weekend.
Berkane had their defence of the Confederation Cup -- the African equivalent of the UEFA Europa League -- terminated in the group phase after finishing only third in a mini-league.
AFP