Al Ahly 2-0 Jimma Aba Jifar | African Champions League | VIDEO

Last year’s runners-up Ahly squandered a plethora of goal-scoring chances but still did enough to claim a 2-0 home win over Ethiopia’s Jimma Aba Jifar in the first leg of the African Champions League round of 32 as they kicked off their new campaign on Friday.

Playmaker Nasser Maher scored his first goal for Ahly and striker Marwan Mohsen added a second in the first half as the Red Devils strolled to a win at Alexandria’s Borg El-Arab Stadium.

Match Facts

Full time: Ahly 2-0 Jimma Aba Jifar
Goals by: Nasser Maher 7, Marwan Mohsen 38

Starting line-ups:

Al Ahly: Sherif Ekramy, Karim Walid, Mohamed Hani, Salif Coulibaly, Ayman Ashraf, Hossam Ashour (Hesham Mohamed 64), Amr El-Sulaya, Mohamed Sherif (Walid Soliman 80), Nasser Maher, Ahmed Hamoudi (Mido Gaber 69), Marwan Mohsen

Venue: Borg El-Arab (Alexandria)

Referee: Sadek Salmi (Tunisia)

However, Ahly will hope they won’t rue a host of missed chances in the second half when they meet Aba Jifar in the second leg in Addis Ababa next week.

The Cairo giants, who reached the final in 2017 and 2018 but lost on both occasions, are eyeing their first Champions League crown since winning the last of their record eight titles in 2013.

Al Ahly 2-0 Jimma Aba Jifar | VIDEO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWonxlUK9NE