Al Ahly outclass Roma to bag Champions Golden Cup

The match started with a minute silence remembering the victims of the Egypt plane crash.

 
 
Egyptian powerhouse Al Ahly secured the Champions Golden Cup with a 4-3 win over Italian giants Roma at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain on Friday night.
Ahly substitute Mohammed Ahmed ran through the defence in the penultimate minute of extra time to clinch a famous win.
The match started with a minute silence remembering the victims of the Egypt plane crash.
At the start of the play, the boisterous supporters, majority of them Al Ahly fans, made an exception to applaud one Roma player - the peerless Francesco Totti.
"We are all Ahly fans but Totti is one more reason we are here," said a fan wearing the 'King of Roma' T-shirt and an Egyptian club flag in his hand.
Egyptian fans turned Al Ain into a sea of red. They raised a tifo - 'Martin Jol.. Al Ahly fans everywhere'. The Egyptian manager has earned the respect of his fans unlike his counterpart Luciano Spalletti, who is facing ire back home for his cold war with the 'Roma King'.
The proceedings started briskly with attacks from both the sides. Edin Dzeko found the post in the 15th minute for Roma and just as the Italian engine was warming up the 'Masters of the World' struck.
Ghanaian forward John Antwi caught 'I Giallorossi' defence unaware in the 29th minute to net the first goal for the Egyptian side. It was lax defending by the Roma.
That goal did woke up the Italian giants and then followed a series of attacks with Brazilian defender Paderes Leandro, midfielders Kevin Strootman and Pjanic Miralem testing the Al Ahly defence.
In the 19th minute, a gem of a pass by Totti split two defenders to find Edin Dzeko, who converted to make it 1-1. Dzeko goal silenced the capacity crowd.
In the 41st minute, Totti passed to Ervin Zukanovic who ran through the right line and crossed to Dezko, who passed it to Mohamed Salah with the Egyptian firing it in to take Roma to 2-1. But unlike the first goal by Roma, this one was well celebrated by the fans as it came from the 'Egyptian Messi'.
Al Ahly soon responded and a 42-minute counter-attack saw midfielder Saleh Gomaa Ouda slide in a pass to Moamen Zakaria, who fired in a volley to level the scores at the end of first half.
The next 45 minutes started off with attacks from both sides.
In the 55th minute, Zakaria ran through the right flank to fire in a cross that bypassed defender Palmieri Santos and found Waleed Sulaiman, who converted to make it 3-2.
Against the run of play, Roma substitute William Vainqueur shot in a thunderous volley from the right flank to level it at 3-3 in the 90th minute.
Four minutes of extra time was added. And in the 93rd minute, Ahly substitute Ahmed made a solo run by running through the Italian defence to win it for the Egyptian powerhouse. The HZB erupted with the goal and soon whistles were being heard across the stadium.
Second half was more of Al Ahly going on the offense and Roma trying to find a way out each time.
Al Ahly also had a twelfth man advantage in the form of the capacity crowd. Even the travelling media contingent was on the edge of their seats with each Ahly attack.
The fans swayed to popular Arabic numbers to celebrate as Al Ahly lifted the trophy at the iconic stadium.