Esperance of Tunisia registered a dramatic comeback and held their nerve in a tense penalty shootout against CR Belouizdad at the Stade Olympique Hammadi Agrebi in Radès to progress to the semifinals of the CAF Champions League.
Esperance had lost the first leg of their quarterfinal tie away to the Algerian club 2-0 and were forced to endure a frustrating goalless first half on Saturday despite having more than 70 percent of possession and the only efforts on target.
A double change by Esperance eight minutes into the second half saw the introduction of Ilyes Chetti and Abdelraouf Benguit. Benguit’s introduction proved to be an inspired change as he netted the opening goal 15 minutes later to give Esperance hope.
The Tunisian club pushed on for a goal that would level the tie on aggregate and send it to a penalty shootout, and their pressure paid off as Mohamed Ben Romdhane equalized with just three minutes of normal time left.
With no further goals, the game went to a penalty shootout in which Esperance converted three of their four spot-kicks while CR Belouizdad only scored two of their five efforts.
Esperance’s substitute goalkeeper Ben Mustapha was the man of the hour saving two of those penalties, including the decisive fifth kick by defender Chemseddine Nessakh.
Winning the game saw the four-time African champions avoid an almighty upset against a club that was only making its maiden appearance at this stage of the competition this season.
Meanwhile, Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco also edged Algeria’s MC Alger by a single goal at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca to advance 2-1 on aggregate.
Like the other quarterfinal, this game also took a dramatic twist at the very end as Wydad scored in the second minute of injury time through Walid El Karti and MC Alger then had goalkeeper Ahmed Bouttaga sent off two minutes later.
Wydad, however, would have still gone through to the final four if the game had ended in a draw because of the away goals rule following the 1-1 result in the first leg in Algeria.
The semifinals of the Champions League will take place on June 18 with Esperance hosting Al Ahly in the standout tie and Wydad Athletic Club welcoming Kaizer Chiefs. The second legs will take place on June 25 with the final scheduled to take place on July 17.