Al Ahly grab vital away goal in 1-1 draw at Coton Sport

Al Ahly's talismanic star Mohamed Aboutrika netted an equaliser on the stroke of halftime to secure the holders a 1-1 draw away at Coton Sport of Cameroon in the African Champions League semi-final.

The first leg result in Garoua hands the advantage to the Egyptian club, who will host the return match on 20 October.

Ahly's coach, Mohamed Youssef, will have to watch that match from the stands after being sent off midway through the second half for dissent.

Coton Sport forward Ewangue Mbongo cut inside the Ahly defence before striking home a low shot to the near post to hand the hosts a 1-0 lead after 33 minutes.

Within a minute Coton Sport were forced to clear Ahmed Abdulzaher's header off the line, before Aboutrika found the equaliser in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

Ahly might have snuck the win had Al-Sayed Hamdi not missed a good chance just four minutes from the end.

The two teams returned 24 hours after a torrential storm saw their game abandoned just short of the hour mark on Saturday, with the pitch badly waterlogged but it cleared sufficiently by kick-off time on Sunday to allow the match to take place.

The winner of the tie meet either Esperance of Tunisia or South Africa's Orlando Pirates. They played out a goalless draw in their semi-final, first leg tie in Soweto on Saturday.