CAF Champions League
VAR CONTROVERSY MARS ESPERANCE’S CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WIN
Tunisian side, Esperance de Tunis have retained the CAF Champions League in Rades after Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca abandoned the game following VAR controversy.
The first leg, which also had its share of controversy leading to the six-month suspension of the match referee, ended 1-1.
The implication was that the visiting Moroccans needed either a win or a score-draw to have any realistic chance of dethroning the champions.
That was not to be as Esperance got into the score sheet when Youcef Belaili scored in the 41st minute.
Wydad pulled the goal back early in the second half and appeared to be on redemption course. The 58th minute goal by Walid El Karti was ruled offside
The replays showed that El Karti was onside and the goal should have stood, however, Gambian referee Bakary Gassama didn’t consult the VAR due to technical issues with the system.
The
game was halted for over an hour as the Moroccans refused to continue the
game unless the VAR was checked, saying that no one informed them before the
game that VAR will not be used.
This led to CAF president Ahmed Ahmed to enter the pitch to convince the players to resume play, however, he failed and then the referee blew his whistle to announce Esperance as the CAF Champions League winners.
“Wydad’s players wanted to mess up the game, so we had to be calm,” Esperance manager Moine Chaabani told beIN SPORTS after the game.
“But these were managerial things. We have no impact on them, the important thing is we are the champions,” the Tunisian added.
It’s worth mentioning that Egyptian referee Gehad Grisha was suspended for six months following his poor refereeing performance in the first-leg, which saw him rule out a goal for Wydad as well as sending off their midfielder Brahim Nakach.
This title becomes Esperance’s fourth in their history after 1994, 2011, 2018, and the sixth in Tunisian clubs’ history after titles for Étoile du Sahel and Club Africain in 2007 and 1991 respectively.
They will now face Egypt’s Zamalek in the CAF Super Cup in August after the Whites managed to clinch the CAF Confederation Cup title last week.
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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