Wydad Casablanca have a new hero, Zouheir El Moutaraji, whose double gave them a third African Champions League, in the final against Al-Ahly Cairo (2-0), in an atmosphere of madness at home , Monday.
A sumptuous strike (15th), a hunter’s goal in two stages (48th), the N.7 of the Reds of Casa blew up the Mohamed V stadium twice, for the third C1 of the WAC.
The National of Cairo, king of Africa with 10 C1 won, had to bow to the inspirations of the Moroccan striker.
Zouheir El Moutaraji opened the scoring with a fantastic shot from 30m wrapped in the top corner of Mohamed El-Shenawy (15th).
Then on a counter, in two stages, his first shot being repelled by the Egyptian goalkeeper, the WAC N.7 devoured Mohamed Hany, the Egyptian defender, and doubled the bet just after the break, literally setting fire to the Mohamed stadium V of Casablanca, where the final was played, the Egyptians having unsuccessfully challenged before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) the choice to play the final in the enclosure of his opponent.
– Third C1 for Wydad –
After 1992 and 2017, already against Al Ahly, but in two sets (1-1/1-0), the Reds of Casablanca join the Greens of Raja, their great rival in the Moroccan economic capital, crowned three times in C1 African.
Wydad, whose name means “Love” and comes from a film by legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kalsoum, deserved their victory for playing their final with great intensity.
His powerful Congolese striker with dyed red hair, Guy Mbenza, smashed the crossbar with a powerful shot (11th).
Al-Ahly, double defending champion, missed the hat-trick and was unable to respond, despite an opportunity from Taher Mohamed (35th) or a strike from Mohamed “Afsha” Magdy blocked by Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (74th).
The Moroccan goalkeeper was again decisive in front of Mohamed Sherif (82nd), at close range, causing the boiling public of the WAC to explode with joy.
This is the first triumph for coach Walid Regragui (46), who has worked in Ligue 1, notably Toulouse and AC Ajaccio. He defeated the South African coach of Al-Ahly, Pitso Mosiman, winner of the last two editions and of the C1 2016 with the Mamelodi Sundowns, the Pretoria club.
But Monday was El Moutaraji’s big night.