CAIRO/ CASABLANCA — Reigning champions Al-Ahly of Egypt fired a strong title defence warning shot with an emphatic 3-0 win over Ghana’s Medeama in a CAF Champions League encounter.
The Egyptian giants share first place in Group D with Algeria’s CR Belouizdad, who overcame Young Africans of Tanzania 3-0 in Algiers.
With a few tactical changes after the recess, a 66th minute opener by Mahmoud Abdel-Moneim ‘Kahraba’ was followed by winger Hussein el-Shatat’s strike in the 75th minute.
Striker Salah Mohsen sealed the emphatic victory in the 88th minute.
Elsewhere, Botswana’s Jwaneng Galaxy sent shockwaves across the continent after edging Moroccan giants, Wydad AC with a historic 1-0 away win in a Champions League Group B encounter in Casablanca.
Galaxy, who are only making their second appearance in the group stages of the biggest club competition on the continent not only go top of the group but, do it in historic fashion with the win being their first ever victory in the group stages of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League.
A costly mistake in the 33rd minute saw Galaxy forward, Thabang Sesinyi punishing last season’s runners up with the only goal that silenced the crowd and subsequently recorded one of the biggest upsets of the competition in recent history.
The historic victory sees the Southern African side from Botswana move to the summit of the group, following the 1-1 stalemate by Simba AC and Asec Mimosas, cafonline reported.
Meanwhile, ES Tunis shot up to the summit of Group C after a clinical display at home during an interesting duel against rivals, ES Sahel in Tunis.
The two Tunisian giants kicked off their group stage campaign on home soil in a highly anticipated derby that concluded with hosts, ES Tunis walking away as 2-0 victors.
After a fairly balanced opening half, with equal number of chances on either side, ES Tunis found two goals in succession in the second half to secure a confidence boosting victory at home.
A goal at the hour mark by Yan Sasses which was immediately followed by a 64th minute penalty conversion by Yassine Meriah meant the derby went in favour ES Tunis who went top of the group.
Meanwhile in a simultaneous Group C fixture played in Angola, Petro de Luanda registered a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Sudanese side, Al-Hilal in a fixture played in Luanda to join ES Tunis at the top with three points.
A solitary strike in the 37th minute by Inacio Miguel was enough to give the Angolan side the vital three points on home soil.
Petro will be looking at improving on their impressive run two seasons ago that saw them go all the way to the semi-finals of the competition.
They will have harder task to accomplish next week when they travel to Tunisia to face a wounded ES Sahel who will be looking at redeeming themselves following today’s disappointment.
Al-Hilal on the other hand will need to get a result against the group leaders when they welcome ES Tunis to Sudan next weekend.
Also, Ivorian giants, Asec Mimosas managed to salvage a point away from home when they faced Tanzanian powerhouse, Simba AC in a CAF Champions League Group B match that ended 1-1 at the Mkapa Stadium in Der es Salaam.
The Mimosas, who last tasted CAF Champions League success in 1998 were up against a spirited Simba AC side that is also looking at affirming itself on the continent like their arch-rivals, Young Africans who is almost tasted CAF Confederations Cup after finishing second last season.
As expected, the hosts who had the backing of the highly vocal crowd wasted no time in applying the pressure to get the early lead.
After doing well to contain the hosts, a lapse in concentration by the visitors saw them concede a penalty towards the dying moments of the first half for Saidi Ntibazonkiza to step up and give his side the lead from the spot-kick in the 44th minute.
Coming back from the break, Simba came out even stronger as they pushed forward for the cushion goal against the former champions.
However, it was not meant to be for the East Africans as the Ivorians showed maturity in defence and not buckling under pressure.
Mimosas, in their containing the pressure did well in attack towards the closing stages and were rewarded in the 77th minute when Serge Pokou found the leveler to take a valuable point away from home in a highly competitive encounter.
