Maaloul, another hero for another battle in Rades

CAIRO – 24 September 2017: Al Ahly’s dramatic victories have no end. Al Ahly fans always believe in their team and its ability to win despite difficult situations.

Rades stadium in Tunisia is the favorite field for Al Ahly players to leave their mark. The team has made many great memories in this stadium and Saturday’s victory over Esperance will always be remembered by one player, the Tunisian magician in Al Ahly’s defensive lineup, Ali Maaloul.

Maaloul left his club CS Sfaxien to join Al Ahly in 2016 for € 700,000 ($836,570), which was considered too much for a defender. Since then, Maaloul booked a regular place in the squad but failed to shine like his old days in Sfaxien and was criticized by the Egyptian media. Maaloul proved on Saturday his greatness as a player and his mental strength as a person.

Al Ahly faced Esperance on Saturday in Rades at the CAF Champions League quarterfinals’ second leg only a week after a 2-2 draw in Alexandria; Maaloul was on the starting 11.

Al Ahly players started the game searching for their goal to qualify to the semi-finals, from the beginning it seemed that Al Ahly’s left flank with Ali Maaloul and Walid Soliman will have a great role in the game.

However, Maaloul made a huge mistake at 37th minute as he failed to return the ball to his goalkeeper, Sherif Ekramy, which led to a penalty from which Taha Yassine scored the first goal for Esperance and made the mission even harder for Al Ahly.

Many players would lose their concentration after such a mistake, but Maaloul’s experience and mental strength allowed him to shine like he never did in the second half.

Five minutes from the second half start, Ali Maaloul was inside Esperance’s area to score the first goal for Al Ahly after a mistake from Esperance’s defense.

The second goal was a pure piece of magic from Maaloul when he moved himself to the right flank after a great run; he looked to his teammates to find the right spot from which to cross, which subsequently allowed Junior Ajayi to score the second.

Ali helped Al Ahly’s defense keep the ball away from their area to end the game 2-1 and write a new page in Al Ahly’s history of dramatic victories.

Maaloul proved on Saturday that he has Al Ahly genes despite being born in Tunisia.