By Metohuey Michael Adoglo
Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco and continental giants, Al Ahly Sports Club of Egypt will battle it out on Monday, 30 May 2022 in the 2021-2022 season finale of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
To prepare you for the final showpiece, Africanian has set up some 10 facts about both teams for you to enjoy:
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- 10-time CAF Champions League winners, Al Ahly are looking to become the first side to win the competition in three consecutive seasons, after beating Zamalek (2-1) in 2019-20 and Kaizer Chiefs in 2020-21 (3-0).
- The final is the 11th meeting between Al Ahly and Wydad Casablanca in the CAF Champions League, with the Egyptian side edging the head-to-head battle so far, winning four to Wydad’s two victories.
- This will be Wydad Casablanca’s third CAF Champions League final in six seasons, after 2017 (winners) and 2018-19 (runners-up) and their fifth overall in the CAF Champions League (W2 L2), the most by a Moroccan side in the competition.
- This will be the third CAF Champions League final between Moroccan and Egyptian sides, and a repeat of the 2017 showpiece, which saw Wydad Casablanca won (2-1) over two legs (also Zamalek v Raja Casablanca in 2002).
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- 44% of the headed goals (7/16) scored in the CAF Champions League in 2021-22 have come from these two sides, with Wydad Casablanca netting the most (4), ahead of Al Ahly’s three.
- Defending champions Al Ahly started slowly in the CAF Champions League this season, failing to score in three of their first four games (W1 D1 L2), while they’ve scored in each of their last six, averaging 2.2 goals per game (13 in total – W4 D2).
- Al Ahly’s Percy Tau has been directly involved in eight goals (three goals, five assists), more than any other player in the CAF Champions League this season, while the last player with more in a single campaign was Trésor Mputu in 2018-19 (9 – four goals, five assists for TP Mazembe).
- Wydad Casablanca have scored their 20 goals from an expected goals tally of just 11.3 – the biggest xG differential in the CAF Champions League this season (8.7), while they also have the best shot conversion rate – 18.7% (20/107).
- Wydad Casablanca have scored 50% of their goals (10/20) via set-pieces in the CAF Champions League in 2021-22 (four corners, three free-kicks, one direct free-kick and two penalties) – since 2016 (when this data is available) only ES Tunis in 2018-19 (11) have scored more in a single season in the competition
- Al Ahly have had at least 25 more high turnovers (94 – the number of sequences that start in open play and begin 40m or less from the opponent’s goal) than any other side in the CAF Champions League this season, with 20 ending in shots and three ending in goals – both competition highs in 2021-22.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect those of Africanian News.