Al Ahly officially won the title 6 weeks before the end of the championship, achieving the second fastest league in its history after the historic 2004–05 Egyptian Premier League season. Al Ahly reached the 2018 CAF Champions League Final, but lost to Tunisian club Esperance Du Tunis. Al Ahly won in the first leg 3–1, but Esperance Du Tunis defeated Al Ahly 3–0 in the second leg, making them win the CAF Champions League Final hence, Al Ahly failed to secure the 9th CAF Champions League title. On 9 April 2019, Al Ahly was knocked off the 2018-19 CAF Champions League after suffering a 5-0 humiliating loss to South Africa’s Mameloudi Sundowns. In the return match, Al Ahly won 1-0 but the score on aggregate was 5-1. This loss which was a catastrophe for the club’s history and was the club’s biggest loss since 1942 and in the CAF Champions League tournament. This loss resulted in the club’s board deducting 10% of the players salary for a year. Many even criticized Martin Lasarte saying he was mostly responsible for the loss. Al Ahly managed to win the 2018–19 Egyptian Premier League title for the fourth consecutive season and for the 41st in its history under the leadership of the Uruguayan manager Martín Lasarte, after defeating Al Mokawloon Al Arab 3–1 in a meeting that gathered the two on 24 July 2019 at the Borg El Arab Stadium. This result put Ahly five points clear of their rivals Zamalek with one game of the league season left. Al Ahly won the 2018-19 League title despite an extremely difficult path and Al Ahly was in the 18th position (last position of the Egyptian Premier League). Results eventually improved and winter signings that included: Hussein El Shahat, Hamdi Fathi, Mahmoud Wahid, Ramadan Sobhi, Mohamed Mahmoud, Yasser Ebrahim and Geraldo helped improve results which led Al Ahly to the 2018-19 league title. The 2018–19 league win raised the club trophies to 136, making Al Ahly the most crowned club in world football with 20 continental titles; nine Champions Leagues, one Confederation Cup, four Cup Winners' Cups, six Super Cups and one Afro-Asian Club Championship. As of 2019, Al Ahly has won CAF Champions League in 1982, 1987, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012 and in 2013; making them the most crowned team in Africa. At the national level, Al Ahly achieved 41 Egyptian Premier League