Al Ahly Reaches Champions League Final After Humiliating Etoile du Sahel

Egyptians Al Ahly will play Moroccans Wydad Casablanca in next month's African Champions League final after thrashing Etoile du Sahel 6-1 to win through 7-3 on aggregate.

In an extraordinary semi-final in Alexandria, Ahly constantly ripped the Tunisians' defence apart as they booked their place in the final for a record eleventh time.

After Ali Maaloul opened the scoring after just two minutes, Walid Azarou took the game away from Etoile with three unanswered goals.

An own goal and a fine strike from Rami Rabiaa took Ahly to their first final since 2013, with Etoile replying through Rami El Bedwi and Ihab Msakni late on.

Four years ago, Al Ahly beat Orlando Pirates as they successfully defended the title they had won twelve months earlier.

The game was played in front of around 40,000 fans in Alexandria, which boosted Al Ahly since many games in Egypt are played behind closed doors for security reasons.

They will meet Wydad in November's two-legged final after the Moroccans beat USM Alger of Algeria 3-1 on Saturday to qualify by the same aggregate scoreline.

African champions just once in their history, when beating Sudanese opposition in 1992, Wydad are through to their third final after finishing runners-up to Tunisians Esperance in 2011.

Ahly, meanwhile, are through to a record eleventh final and can now extend their record of eight African crowns to nine should they beat Wydad.

The Egyptians' previous successes in Africa's premier club competition came in 1982, 1987, 2001, 2005-2006, 2008 and 2012-2013.

Whoever wins next month will represent Africa in Fifa's Club World Cup in Japan in December.