Al Ahly beat Raja Casablanca on penalties to retain CAF Super Cup

Egyptian giants Al Ahly retained the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Super Cup following a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory over Raja Casablanca of Morocco.

Both sides scored their first five penalties and Akram Tawfik made it 6-5 in sudden death.

"All match long, all the 90 minutes, it was difficult. You are playing against Al Raja (Raja Casablanca), I wished them luck since they do play well. This is football and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose," said Yasser Ibrahim, Al Ahly defender.

The South African coach Pitso Mosimane has had an impeccable career at the Egyptian giant

"So we have our own philosophy the way we play. And that's what I told them at halftime. I say 'you have to trust the way we play. We have won so many trophies. We have won the Champions League, we've won the Super Cup. We came here in the World Cup playing in this way. So why tonight do you want to change? Because the score is one zero?' So you have to be patient and we were patient and we got the results that we wanted," said Pitso Mosimane, Al Ahly head coach

Raja Casablanca, the current Moroccan champions, have won the CAF Super Cup twice in their history - in 2000 and 2019.

"When I see the game they had today. I can't ask for more. And if I'm a Raja fan, for example, I would say hats off to you guys, we were beaten on penalties, but really, I'm proud of you. I think that's the right thing to do," said Marc Wilmots, Raja Casablanca head coach.

Al Ahly have now won the title for a record seven times, and are the previous holders after they beat RS Berkane of Morocco, 2-0 in Doha in May - that match was delayed from August the previous year because of the coronavirus pandemic.