Moemen Zakareya bags a brace to give Ahly a 2-0 Champions League round of 32 return-leg win and help his side march through to the last-16
A brace from Ahly's January signing Moemen Zakareya gave them a 2-0 second-leg win over Rwanda's APR as they easily reached the African Champions League last 16 on Saturday.
Two goals either side of the interval ensured Ahly's passage to the next round, following a 2-0 first-leg win in Kigali.
Record eight-time African champions Ahly will now meet Morocco's Maghreb Tetouani, who beat Nigeria's Kano Pillars 5-2 on aggregate.
Ahly started the game with a 4-2-3-1 formation, featuring right-back Mohamed Hani, Hossam Ghaly and Mohamed Rezk at the base of midfield and Walid Soliman, Mahmoud 'Trezeguet' and Zakareya as three attacking midfielders.
Manager Juan Carlos Garrido apparently looked to rotate his squad, keeping Bassem Ali, Hossam Ashour and Abdallah El-Saied on the bench – ahead of their league clash with bitter rivals Ismaily.
The first action in a largely dull game came in the 30th minute, when the hosts opened the scoring through Zakareya for his first Ahly goal following his return to his boyhood club after leaving arch-rivals Zamalek.
Lively full-back Hussein El-Sayed was given all the space and time in the world to whip in a pin-point cross from the left, with Zakareya making no mistake with a well-executed header from inside the box.
Just one minute before the break, Ahly could have made it two when Meteb received a cross from right-back Mohamed Hany before seeing his effort saved by the keeper.
Meteb was then substituted by Ramadan Sobhi at half time, before Soliman and Ghaly were also replaced – with Garrido looking to conserve the energy of his veteran trio.
It was just four minutes into the second half when Zakareya made it two for Ahly, scoring from point-blank range on the rebound after Saad Samir's headed effort was blocked by the keeper.
The second half then continued with a low tempo as both sides seemed content with the result, which takes Ahly through to the round of 16, with the first leg scheduled for 17/18/19 April.
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