Brave Comorans bow out despite holding Enugu in Nigeria

An expected comfortable passage for Enugu Rangers of Nigeria into the CAF Champions League second qualifying round did not materialise on Friday as they were held 1-1 by US Zilimadjou of the Comoros.

Enugu were grateful for a 1-0 first round, first leg victory last weekend which took them through 2-1 on aggregate.

Augustine Kenechukwu gave Enugu the lead 79 minutes into the second leg in southeastern city Uyo only for Hilal Massulaha to equalise six minutes later and set up a tense finish.

Had Zilimadjou scored again, they would have won the tie on away goals, and created one of the biggest shocks in the 60-year history of the premier African club competition.

Enugu, back in the Champions League for the first time since 2017, were hot favourites partly because no Comoran club had won a two-leg tie in 18 previous attempts.

Rangers also had the huge boost of playing both legs in Uyo with Zilimadjou forfeiting home advantage in the first leg because there is no international standard stadium in the Comoros.

Seeking to emulate 2003 and 2004 champions Enyimba and become only the second Nigerian winners of the competition, Enugu are likely to face Sagrada Esperanca of Angola during September.

Sagrada have home advantage and 1-0 aggregate lead over Saint Louis of the Seychelles ahead of the return match in Luanda on Saturday.

While Enugu scraped through to the round of 32, former champions Orlando Pirates of South Africa crushed Disciples of Madagascar 4-0 in Soweto to qualify by the same score on aggregate.

Criticised for wasting scoring chances in a goalless first leg, the Buccaneers wasted little time establishing superiority at home and were three goals ahead within 28 minutes.

Tshegofatso Mabasa, Relebohile Mofokeng and Patrick Maswanganyi netted, and an added-time goal from Democratic Republic of Congo-born Karim Kimvuidi completed the rout.

African Stars of Namibia take a 1-0 lead over Jwaneng Galaxy of Botswana into the return match on Saturday and the overall winners will face Pirates for a group-stage place.

Dekedaha of Somalia lost 4-3 to Arta Solar of Djibouti in a thriller, but progressed 5-4 on aggregate and will face four-time champions Esperance of Tunisia next month.