Zamalek of Egypt suffered a shock 5-2 defeat at Wydad Casablanca of Morocco on Saturday, but still qualified to meet Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa in the 2016 African Champions League final.
Zamalek won the first leg of the semi-final 4-0 in Alexandria last weekend and squeezed through 6-5 on aggregate.
Wydad, who sacked coach John Toshack after the first leg defeat, were attempting to become the first club to wipe out a four-goal deficit in a Champions League semi-final.
The Moroccans came close, producing a dramatic comeback to leave Zamalek shaken until they scored on the counter attack through Nigerian Stanley Ohawuchi to end the homers’ hopes.
Liberian William Jebor scored twice to help Wydad to a 3-1 half time lead, with Ismail El Haddad also scoring for the hosts. Basem Morsi scored Zamalek’s goal in the first-half.
A brace from Congolese Fabrice Ondama after the break extended the score to 5-1 for Wydad – putting the sides level on aggregate but with Wydad still needing one more to win the tie because of the away-goals rule.
