Al Ahly to take their throne back?

• Al Ahly reach fourth consecutive CAFCL final.

• It's their sixth final in seven years.

• They could win the title for the 11th time.

Al Ahly SC beat Esperance Tunis 4-0 on aggregate on Friday night at the Cairo International Stadium to advance to the CAF Champions League final.

The Red Eagles had made the second leg a little easier for them by winning 3-0 away in the first leg played in Tunisia.

In a dominant display on Friday, where Al Ahly averaged 70% ball possession, it was Hussein El Shahat who scored the Red Eagles winning goal as early as the 22nd minute after Percy Tau played him through on goal.

With their win last night, Ahly have now reached the CAFCL final for four seasons in a row, having won two of them, and lost last season's edition to Wydad AC.

The history making Egyptian giants are line to win their 11th title, from 15 finals. While they will be playing in their 16th final, it will be their sixth in seven years.

The big question is, can they take back their throne?

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History tells a story of an Al Ahly side that goes on to win CAFCL tournaments whenever they have disastrous starts to the competition.

To qualify for the quarter-finals in this campaign, the Red Eagles needed Mamelodi Sundowns to do them a favour by not losing to Al Hilal Omdurman, a game that ended in a 1-1 draw to give Ahly a life line.

Now that they are in the final again, could history be repeating itself?

Ahly will face either Sundowns or Wydad AC in the final.

We are not in the final yet - Koller.

Despite putting Esperance Tunis to the sword in a CAF Champions League semi-final first leg, Al Ahly SC coach, Marcel Koller, says the Red Eagles are not in the final yet.

Ahly put on a clinical display to win 3-0 as Percy Tau bagged a brace, with Mahmoud Kahraba adding third.

Although Koller is happy with the result, he is careful not to get ahead of himself, despite a healthy 3-0 advantage.

"I am happy with the victory and the performance. We had a strong start and scored early in the game but we allowed Esperance to have the possession in most of the first half," Koller told Al Ahly SC website.

"I spoke with the players at half time to stay focused and they had an incredible second half. We are not in the final yet. We have a good advantage but we still have another match to play in Cairo after one week." 

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Ahly's goalkeeper, Mohamed El Shenawy, agrees with Koller's sentiments.

"We haven't won the tie yet. We won the first leg but we have a second game after one week at home. Esperance is a big team and we prepared for them very well. I am happy with the victory. We will celebrate tonight and tomorrow we will start preparing for the second leg." 

The two sides will meet again next week on Friday night for the second leg in Cairo Stadium. 

Tau's Egyptian rebirth continues as he nets a brace against Esperance.

Bafana Bafana forward, Percy Tau, scored twice when Al Ahly SC beat Esperance Tunis 3-0 in a CAF Champions League semi-final match played at Stade Olympique de Rades, Tunisia, on Friday night.

Tau opened the scoring as early as the 8th minute, before adding his second of the night 10 minutes after half-time. Ahly's third came in the 75th minute through Mahmoud Kahraba.

Despite playing in front of their home crowd, and enjoying more possession with 56% of the ball, Esperance were found wanting in the final third as they struggled to break down Ahly's defence.

They did, however, manage to fashion 13 goal attempts, with four of them ending up on target, without any desired results.

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On the other hand, although they saw less of the ball and final third actions, the Red Eagles were their old ruthless selves when they did manage to break through Esperance's defensive lines.

From their 10 goal attempts, Al Ahly managed to get four shots on target, with an impressive three ending up at the back of the net.

With their emphatic away win, and a 3-0 scoreline, Al Ahly are as good as in the CAFCL final, unless an unlikely magical performance from Esperance turns the game on its head.

The two sides meet again in Egypt next week for the second leg.