African champions Ahly, Pyramids, Sundowns reach CAF CL semi-finals

Emam Ashour scored on 80 minutes as record 12-time African champions Ahly beat homeless Sudanese side Al Hilal 1-0 in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott for a 2-0 aggregate victory.

Knockout stage debutants Pyramids fell 2-0 to FAR Rabat in Meknes, but the cushion of a three-goal lead from the first leg took them to the penultimate stage 4-3 on aggregate.

Sundowns avenged a semi-final loss to Esperance of Tunisia last season by forcing a 0-0 in Rades, which gave the Pretoria outfit a 1-0 overall victory.

Ahly face Sundowns in the semi-finals, while Pyramids await the winners between Orlando Pirates and Mouloudia Alger, who meet on Wednesday in Soweto with the South Africans leading 1-0.

Forced to play home matches on the other side of the continent due to the Sudanese civil war, Hilal felt the absence of injured star striker Mohamed Abdelrahman.

But they were one goal away from forcing a penalty shootout until a Taher Mohamed pass set up rising star Ashour to loft the ball over Ivorian goalkeeper Issa Fofana from close range.

That proved the killer blow as Hilal now needed to score at least three times against Ahly, a team renowned for their ability to achieve clean sheets.

Perfect start

In Morocco, Youssef el Fahli netted after eight minutes and Democratic Republic of Congo-born Joel Beya struck eight minutes from time, but it was not enough as 1985 champions FAR bowed out.

El Fahli got the Moroccan military club off to a perfect start as he volleyed a cutback into the far corner of the net.

Pyramids thought they had equalised just before half-time, but TV replays showed Congolese Fiston Mayele was well offside before putting the ball in the net.

Slick passing set up Beya for the second goal, creating a tense finish before Pyramids sealed a last-four place in only their second Champions League appearance. 

The showdown between African giants Esperance and Sundowns seldom rose above the ordinary, despite constant encouragement from a passionate Tunisian crowd.

Esperance had the ball in the net midway through the second half after substitute Achref Jebri raced on to a long Raed Bouchniba pass and lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Ronwen Williams. 

After a lengthy VAR review the goal was disallowed for offside, however, with replays showing Jebri was fractionally in front of two defenders.

Sundowns came closest to scoring on the stroke of half-time when Chilean Marcelo Allende struck the crossbar through a shot from outside the area with goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said beaten.

Success was particularly sweet for Sundowns' Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso, who was fired by Esperance late last year and moved to South Africa.

The two-leg semi-finals are scheduled for April, and the final for May 24 and June 1. The champions pocket four million dollars (3.65 million euros).