CAF Champions League
WILL JUNIOR AJAYI BE LUCKY TODAY AS CAIRO TITANS CLASH IN CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL?
This Friday, football fans across Africa and the Arab world will be giving their undivided attention to the ‘Final of the Century’ at Cairo International Stadium.
There, two giants of Egyptian and African football, Al Ahly and Zamalek, will go head to head in the deciding game of the 2019-20 CAF Champions League.
Al Ahly have eight African Cup of Champions/CAF Champions League titles to their name but last won the competition in 2013 at the expense of South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.
For their part, Zamalek have won the tournament five times and will be looking to finally claim their sixth, having failed to win it since 2002, when they beat Morocco’s Raja Casablanca.
Both sides are playing some of their best football and most observers agree that there is very little to separate them in attack or defence.
Despite both teams having to deal with notable absences, the showdown has been dubbed the ‘Final of the Century’ as it is the first time that two teams from the same country, let alone from a city that lives and breathes football like Cairo, have contested the decider.
Players to watch
Junior Ajayi
Having already scored three times against Zamalek and netted twice and made one assist en route to this final, Ajayi clearly carries a goalscoring threat. Even when not scoring, he can be relied up to keep possession, contribute up front thanks to his speed, skill and accurate heading, or play on the wing as required.
Achraf Bencharki
Bencharki knows what it is like to win the African Champions League, having triumphed with Morocco’s Wydad Casablanca at the expense of tomorrow’s opponents Al Ahly in 2017. Now in the colours of Zamalek, the Moroccan is expected to be one of coach Jaime Pacheco’s most important offensive weapons.
Since joining the White Knights last year, the 26-year-old has helped them win the Egypt Cup, netting a brace against Pyramids in the final, followed by the CAF Super Cup at the expense Tunisia’s Esperance, when he also found the target twice. He was on the scoresheet against Esperance again when the teams met in quarter-finals of this Champions League campaign.
A coaching coincidence
Both Al Ahly and Zamalek’s coaches took the helm of their respective teams just before their semi-finals. Al Ahly appointed South African Pitso Mosimane, whose previous side Mamelodi Sundowns crashed out to his current club in the tournament’s quarter-final.
For their part, Zamalek appointed Portuguese Jaime Pacheco after Frenchman Patrice Carteron left for Al Taawoun of Saudi Arabia. Pacheco led the White Knights to the final at the expense of Morocco’s Raja Casablanca.
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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