Caf Champions League: Al Ahly 1-1 Berekum Chelsea

Al Ahly took the lead late on in the first half through Youssef Konan after a fairly even first half where the Red Devils seemed to play the better football with Berekum Chelsea also managing to engineer some dangerous positions, but failing to utilise them. The home side though managed to level the scores early on in the second half through Jordan Opoku. The result was, however, enough to take the Red Devils through to the semi-final of the competition. The Egyptians started the game well with a good spell of possession early on but failed to trouble goalkeeper Abubakar Iddrisu, but Berekum Chelsea�s first foray forward almost ended up in a goal as Emmanuel Clottey raced on to a fluffed shot but could not direct the ball past the goalkeeper. The Red Devils wasted a glorious chance few minutes later as Walid hesitated when through on goal allowing Adams to step in and clear the danger. Al Ahly continued to play some beautiful football but still looked vulnerable to some of the trickery of Chelsea�s middle men as Ekramy was called upon to stifle Idan�s attempt after a defence splitting ball from Asante. A spell of midfield play almost came to a head for the Blues when Idan bore down on goal with Opoku and Clottey ahead, but chose the wrong option in the heavily marked Clottey wasting the chance in the process. The Ghanaians were made to rue the missed chances though as Konan put the Egyptians ahead from a rebound after Walid had directed Aboutarika�s cross onto the post. The second half started well for Ahly as they managed to score what they believed to have been their second goal but it was chalked out for offside. Coach Hans van Der Plyum�s side managed the equaliser shortly after though as Opoku was allowed time to control a high ball into the box and powered it home in the 52nd minute. Idan then wasted a glorious chance to pull Chelsea ahead after great work from 24-year-old Clottey set him up from a few yards out with an empty net at his mercy. Substitute Dominic da Silva almost made Chelsea pay for the missed chance but floated his lob over the post with Abdul Basit�s effort blocked in an action packed couple of minutes. The game continued to entertain but both sides failed to split the opposition defence yet Chelsea almost went ahead when Owusu Jackson smacked his free kick against the crossbar, and had Iddrisu to thank later on as he prevented Ahly from moving ahead through a sublime Aboutarika effort. The Blues travel to Egypt next to face Zamalek then will welcome TP Mazembe to Ghana.