Percy Tau grabbed a goal and two assists as Al Ahly thrashed Coton Sport 4-0 to keep their CAF Champions League knockout stage hopes alive on Friday evening. Tau continued in the starting line-up after impressing in the big defeat to Mamelodi Sundowns last weekend, while Ahmed Abdel-Kader and Mahmoud Kahraba returned to starting line-up. Marcel Koller's charges knew going into the encounter that only a win would keep their quarter-finals hopes alive, while they would also need Sundowns to defeat Al-Hilal on Saturday afternoon. The visitors got their opening goal midway through the first half, as Kahraba marked his return to the line-up by turning home Marwan Attia’s low cross. The lead was doubled a few minutes later when Tau turned provider by collecting a neat pass from Ahmed Abdel-Kader to play in Kahraba who fired home to complete his brace.

Koller's charges picked up from where they left off in the first half, as Kahraba completed his hat-trick six minutes after collecting a pass from Tau before rifling in a long range shot. Tau managed to get his name on the score-sheet three minutes later, as the South African forward cut in from the flank before firing past goalkeeper Gadin Allambatnan for his second goal of the group stages. With Al Ahly comfortably leading, coach Koller threw on the likes of Mohamed Sherif, Hamdy Fathy and Ahmed Koka for the final 25 minutes of the second half. The Egyptian giants were able to see out the rest of the encounter with relative ease to keep a clean sheet along with their three points. The win keeps Al Ahly in third spot in Group B, but they will need Sundowns to do them a big favour against Al-Hilal Omdurman in Sudan on Saturday afternoon.

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