CAF Champions League
BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY BY TWO NORTH AFRICAN GIANTS
BY KUNLE SOLAJA.nn nnThis year’s CAF Champions League final presents a unique setting, as it is a repeat of 2012 edition. Egypt’s Al Ahly take on Tunisia’s Esperance in the first leg match on Friday.nn nnIt is a battle of two of Africa’s oldest club-sides. Al Ahly was founded in 1907 while Esperance had its seeds sowed in 1919.nn nnAl Ahly, easily the most successful African club as well as the most fanatically supported won the 2012 keenly contested final battles.nn nnWill they do it again this year? The confrontations of both teams litter the record books of African football. Across all African clubs’ competitions in the past 28 years, both teams have met 18 times with victories tilting more to Al Ahly.nn nnEven this year, they met twice in the group stage. Esperance held Al Ahly to a scoreless draw in Alexandria only to succumb to a lone goal defeat at home in Rades. Thanks to the 32nd minute strike by Al Ahly’s Walid Azaro.nn nnAL AHLY –ESPERANCE HEAD-TO-HEADnn nn1990 CAF Champions League – 1/8th finalsnnTunis Esperance 0-0 AhlynnCairo Ahly 0-0* Esperancenn*Esperance won 4-2 on penalty shootoutnn nn2001 CAF Champions League – Semifinalnn04.11.2001 Cairo Ahly 0-0 Esperancenn17.11.2001 Tunis Esperance 1-1 Ahly (Edilton Perreira 2’/ Sayed Abdel Hafeez 83′)nn nn2007 CAF Champions League – Group stagenn20.07.2007 Cairo Ahly 3-0 Esperance (Mohamed Abu Treika 12′, Flavio Amado 77′, Ossama Hosny 85′)nn04.08.2007 Rades Esperance 1-0 Ahly (Salama Kasdaoui 38′)nn nn2010 CAF Champions League – Semifinalnn03.10.2010 Cairo Ahly 2-1 Esperance (Mohamed Fadl 38′, Ahmed Fathy 68′ / Oussama Darragi 72′)nn17.10.2010 Rades Esperance 1-0 Ahly (Michael Eneramo 1′)nn nn2011 CAF Champions League – Group stagenn30.07.2011 Rades Esperance 1-0 Ahly (Yannick N’Djeng 14′)nn16.09.2011 Cairo Ahly 1-1 Esperance (Mohamed Abu Treika 54′ / Yaya Banana 17′)nn nn2012 CAF Champions League – Finalnn04.11.2012 Alexandria Ahly 1-1 Esperance (Elsayed Hamdy 88′ / Walid Hichri 49′)nn17.11.2012 Rades Esperance 1-2 Ahly (Yannick N’Djeng 85′ / Mohamed Nagy “Geddo” 43′, Waleed Suleiman 63′)nn nn2015 CAF Confederation Cup – Group stagenn28.06.2015 Suez Ahly 3-0 Esperance (Abdullah Elsaid 20′, Abdullah Elsaid 58′, Moamen Zakaria 90′)nn22.08.2015 Rades Esperance 0-1 Ahly (John Antwi 5′)nn nn2017 CAF Champions League – Quarterfinalnn16.09.2017 Alexandria Ahly 2-2 Esperance (Abdullah Elsaid 11′, Walid Azaro 67′ / Taha Yassine Khenissi 21′, Ghilane Chaalali 48′)nn23.09.2017 Cairo Esperance 1-2 Ahly (Taha Yassine Khenissi 40′ / Ali Maaloul 50′, Junior Ajayi 62′)nn nn2018 CAF Champions League – Group stagenn04.05.2018 Alexandria Ahly 0-0 Esperancenn17.08.2018 Rades Esperance 0-1 Ahly (Walid Azaro 32′)nn nn nn
Nigeria’s sole survivor into the second round of the CAF Champions League, Enugu Rangers have crashed out of the competition. They lost 3-1 to Angola’s Sagrada Esperança this Sunday in Luanda.
The aggregate scoreline is 3-2 as Rangers last weekend won their home game 1-0. Sagrada Esperança opened the game with offensive and got their first goal barely six minutes into the game when Alexandre Fernando found the back of the net.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 33rd minute through Mussa. But four minutes later, Enugu Rangers reduced the tally to 2-1 to carry an away goal advantage into half time.
Jamie Pimpao got the much needed goal for Angola in the 67th minute to seal the hopes of Rangers.
Sagrada Esperança will now go into next month’s draw for the draw of the group stage.
CAF Champions League 2nd Preliminary Round action resumed on Saturday, 14 September following the resumption of the Africa’s premium club competition on Friday.
It was mostly the travelling teams that secured victories away from home on Saturday, who put themselves in fairly comfortable situations ahead of the return leg next week.
Orlando Pirates had a mental obstacle to overcome in Gaborone against Jwaneng Galaxy, having to face the same side that eliminated them in the same phase of the competition last season.
The former champions secured a 2-0 victory in Gaborone to put themselves in a comfortable position ahead of the return leg next weekend.
Five-time champions, TP Mazembe were away to Red Arrows in Zambia where they also put two past their hosts ahead of the return leg in Lubumbashi.
Mamelodi Sundowns, who played their away match in the comfort of their home stadium against Swaziland’s Mbabane Swallows made use of home ground advantage with a comfortable 4-0 win over their neighbours.
Tanzanian champions, Young Africans secured a hard-fought 1-0 win over CBE SA of Rwanda as Tanzanian giants continue to chase a continental title.
It was a rather tough outing for Moroccan outfit, AS FAR when they travelled to Sudan to face Al Merrikh. A highly entertaining encounter concluded with a 2-2 draw, ahead of the return leg in Morocco.
Egyptian side, Pyramids FC also played out to a draw when they were held 1-1 by APR FC in Rwanda.
Burkina Faso side, Association Sportive des Douanes out up an impressive showing when they edged Algeria’s CR Belouizdad by 1-0.
The first leg of the 2nd Preliminary Round concludes on Sunday, with five interesting encounters lined up, including reigning champions Al Ahly kick starting their title defense away from home.
TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Results & Fixtures:
Friday, 13 September
Enugu Rangers 1 – 0 Sagrada Esperanca
Monastir 0 – 1 MC Alger
Saturday, 14 September
CBE SA 0 – 1 Young Africans
Red Arrows 0 – 2 TP Mazembe
Al-Merrikh 2 – 2 AS FAR
Jwaneng Galaxy FC 0 – 2 Orlando Pirates FC
Maniema Union 2 – 1 Petro de Luanda
Djoliba 1 – 0 ASKO
Douanes 1 – 0 CR Belouizdad
Sunday, 15 September
12h00 GMT | Gor Mahia vs Al Ahly
15h00 GMT | Samartex vs Raja CA
16h00 GMT | San Pedro vs Al-Hilal
16h00 GMT | Dekedaha vs ES Tunis
19h00 GMT | Stade d’Abidjan vs Milo FC
The return leg fixtures of the 2nd Preliminary stage will be played between 20 – 22 September.
-CAF
Enugu Rangers’ patchy form in the CAF Champions League continues as they struggled to beat visiting Angola’s Sagrada Esperance 1-0 in the first leg match played at the Godswill Akpabio Stadium in Uyo.
It was in similar fashion that they played against Union Sportive de Zilimadjou of Comoros Islands who they beat 2-1 over two legs in Uyo.
Rangers’ lone goal was scored by Kazeem Ogunleye in the 80th minute.
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