Saturday | April 27, 2024

Espérance Sportive (ES) de Tunis have reached the final of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League after beating Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club 1-0 at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa, last night.

Sundowns launched an all-out attack from the first minute of the second-leg semifinal to seek that goal which would have brought them back in contention for a final spot in the final.

However, ES Tunis brought an impenetrable defense that proved hard to break.

The Sundowns onslaught was hindered by rain and lightning that led the match officials to pause the fame for more than 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Upon resumption, the Sundowns avalanche of attacks were unrelenting until the match went to the half-time break with a goal in a cool Pretoria night sky.

In the second half,  ES Tunis made changes and tried to take the game away from Sundowns but to little success.

Then ES Tunis resort led to a counter-offense mode which ended with a goal that vanquished Sundowns hopes of a rare Champions League final.

With this away goal, Sundowns needed three goals to claw back and mount a monumental win. But to no avail.

Even when the Pretoria side threw all its arsenal to salvage a slipping dream final the Tunisians did not buckle under that immense pressure.

The match ended 1-0 and Espérance Sportive de Tunis won the two-legged draw 2-0 on aggregate.

Al Ahly crush TP Mazembe decisively

In Egypt, Al Ahly Sporting Club hammered Tout Puissant (TP) Mazembe 3-0 in their second meeting at Cairo International Stadium in Cairo last Friday night.

The first-leg of this semifinal produced a goalless draw in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congolese. 

Therefore, Al Ahly emerged victorious by 3-0 on aggregate.

So, the ultimate grand finale of the CAF Champions League pits Espérance Sportive de Tunis against AL Ahly Sporting Club.