Al Ahly wins the opening match of the World Cup club teams, El Shahat in the list with Messi and Ronaldo

The Club World Cup in Morocco kicked off on Wednesday night with a match between Egypt’s Al Ahly and New Zealand’s Auckland City. Al Ahly won 3-0 to advance to the quarter-finals.

Before the match, there was an opening show with lights, fireworks and acrobatics at the Ibn Batouta stadium in Tangier.

The first goal of the tournament was scored by Hussein El Shahat. The Egyptian gave Al Ahly the lead just before half-time with a long shot. With this blow, he found himself in a special company.

He has now scored in three different World Cups for club teams. Previously, only Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale succeeded. El Shahat scored for Al Ain in the 2018 edition, and for Al Ahly in 2020 and 2023.

Ten minutes after the break, El Shahat’s teammate Mohamed Sherif decided to make the game 2-0. Shortly before the end, the South African Percy Tau completed the party for the Egyptian team with the 3-0.

Deep in stoppage time, Auckland’s Adam Mitchell was sent off by Chinese referee Ma Ning, but no further goals were scored.

Al Ahly will face the Seattle Sounders of the United States in the quarter-finals. Real Madrid and Flamengo only enter the semi-finals on February 7-8. Real will then face the winner of the match between Al Ahly and Seattle Sounders, Flamengo will face Wydad or Al-Hilal.

The final will take place on Saturday 11 February.