CAF Champions League: Ethiopia’s St.George suffer defeat in Cairo

Ethiopia Premier League reigning champions St, George FC suffered a 3-0 defeat to Egypt’s Al Ahly on Sunday in the first leg of the TotalEnergies Champions League Round of 32.

Although the match was played at the Cairo International Stadium, it was St. George FC who were the hosts having requested to play both legs in Egypt.

The Ethiopian giants marched the African giants in the first 28 minutes, but Hussein El-Shahat gave the Africans champions the lead after 29 minutes.

After recess Hussein El-Shahat netted his second goal of the day after 58 minutes, and Ahmed Adbdel-Kader made it 3-0 in added time.

St. George who ejected Zanzibar’s KMKM SC 5-2 on goal aggregate in the first round will hope to put their house together when they face Al Ahly in the second leg on September 29th at the same Cairo International Stadium.

The other teams from the CECAFA Zone that will be involved in second leg ties this week include ; APR (Rwanda), Bumamuru FC (Burundi), Simba SC, Young Africans SC (Tanzania), Al Hilal and Al Merriekh (Sudan).

Young Africans Sc carry an advantage into the return leg after stopping Al Merriekh 2-0 in a match played in Kigali, Rwanda, while Simba SC who will host Power Dynamos from Zambia grabbed a 2-2 draw in the first leg.

Al Hilal will host Premeiro de Agosto (Angola) in Morocco after their goalless draw in the fisrt round, while APR who drew 0-0 with Pyramids in Kigali will face an uphill task at the 30th June Stadium in Cairo on September 30th. Burundi’s Bumamuru FC who lost the first leg 4-0 to battle 2016 champions Mamelodi Sundowns in the return leg on September 30th, 2023.