Ahly midfielder Mohamed Abou-Treika was hailed on Monday night after scoring a hat-trick to give the reds the qualification ticket to the group stage of the African Champions League beating Stade Malian 3-2 in aggregate.

"Abou-Treika played a prominent role in that achievement especially as he was sick and possibly not going to play, but he insisted," Portuguese manager Manuel Jose was quoted as saying on the club’s official website, heaping praise on his experienced player.

The 33-year-old popular footballer came as a substitute before the break, scored from a free-kick, converted a penalty and clinically netted a third a few minutes before time to hand six-time African champions Ahly a place among the last eight.

Treika who played a key role in steering Ahly to a host of titles since his arrival in 2004 scored his first hat-trick with Ahly in 2005 Egyptian Premier League season against Arab Contractors.

Meteb ‘bamboozles’ the Malians

The Cairo-giants striker Emad Meteb said that he saw the Malian players “weirdly move three stones around their net before separating them in the corners,” but he threw them away before the second half.

“It’s well-known that some African teams do black magic against their opponents in important football matches like this,” Meteb was quoted as saying on the Ahly website.

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