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Three of the four groups finish as nail-biters

wwe19 January 2025 19:19| © Backpage TXT
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Esperance Tunis © Backpagepix

There was heartbreak for Young Africans and Raja Casablanca on matchday 6 of the CAF Champions League group stages after they fell just short of qualifying for the quarterfinals.

An exciting finish to Group A saw Al Hilal clinch top spot despite suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat at the hands of TP Mazembe at the Stade TP Mazembe on Saturday.

Three goals inside the opening hour from Jean Diouf (21'), Ibrahima Keita (29') and Merceil Ngimbi (58') put the Ravens in command on home soil before Suleman Shaibu (89' PEN) sealed the win at the death.

Young Africans narrowly missed out on the quarterfinals after playing out to a 0-0 draw with MC Alger at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium.

The stalemate in Dar es Salaam ensured that El Mouloudia pipped Yanga to the runners-up spot by a single point as they finished one behind the Blue Wave.

Group B was also a tightly-contested affair as AS FAR nabbed top spot following a 1-1 draw with Mamelodi Sundowns at Loftus Versfeld on Sunday.

Bafana ba Style looked to have sneaked into pole position after Peter Shalulile broke the deadlock on 12 minutes, but Amine Zouhzouh finally hit back for the Militarians seven minutes from time to finish one point ahead of the Brazilians.

Raja Casablanca came up just short in the end after a 1-0 win over AS Maniema Union at the Larbi Zaouli Stadium saw them finish one point behind Sundowns in third spot.

Orlando Pirates pulled off the shock of the final round as they beat Al Ahly 2-1 at the Cairo International Stadium on Saturday to finish at the head of Group C.

After a goalless first half, Relebohile Mofokeng gave the Buccaneers the lead on 53 minutes before Hussein El Shahat hit back for the Red Eagles in the 69th minute. Tshegofatso Mabasa then silenced the home crowd with an 83rd-minute winner as Pirates won the group by four points ahead of the defending champions.

Meanwhile, CR Belouizdad concluded their African adventure on a high after thrashing Stade d'Abidjan 6-0 in a dead rubber at the Stade du 5 Juillet.

First-half goals from Abderrahmane Meziane (17') and Mohamed Belkhir (36') put the Reds in the driver's seat, with Aymen Mahious (49'), Rezki Hamroune (87') and Merouane Zerrouki (90') completing the rout in the second half.

ES Tunis managed to edge Pyramids by the narrowest of margins in Group D after running out 4-1 victors over Sagrada Esperanca at the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium on Saturday.

Achref Jebri's hat-trick (16', 55', 59') set up the win for the Blood and Gold, while Yan Sasse (22') also got his name on the scoresheet as Dabanda (45+1') managed to pull one back for Sacred Hope just before halftime.

Pyramids had to settle for second place despite putting Djoliba to the sword with a 6-0 hammering at the 30 June Stadium.

The hosts hit the front as early as the second minute through Sodiq Awujoola and further goals from Marawan Hamdy (10'), Mostafa Fathi (53'), Ramadan Sobhi (60' PEN), Abdel Rahman Magdy (66') and Youssef Obama (77') wrapped up the big win.

However, it was not enough to take them above ES Tunis, who had a better goal difference in their head-to-head encounters after both teams finished on 13 points.

CAF Champions League matchday 6 results:

Saturday, January 18

TP Mazembe 4-0 Al Hilal

Young Africans 0-0 MC Alger

Al Ahly 1-2 Orlando Pirates

CR Belouizdad 6-0 Stade d'Abidjan

ES Tunis 4-1 Sagrada Esperanca

Pyramids 6-0 Djoliba

Sunday, January 19

Mamelodi Sundowns 1-1 AS FAR

Raja Casablanca 1-0 AS Maniema Union

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