Match Report: Esperance 1-0 Zamalek (2-3 agg), as it happened, CAF Champions League quarter finals second leg
After being humiliated in Egypt’s capital exactly a week ago, Esperance de Tunis welcomed Zamalek to Tunis and failed to overturned the 3-1 wound brought upon them by Zamalek during the first leg of the CAF Champions League quarter finals when the two North African giants met at the war-zone of Stade Olympique de Redes on Friday night.
It was a big blow for the Champions League title holders when the man who got them underway in Cairo Raouf Benguit was sideline due to suspension. The Blood and Gold saw a wholesale changes in their set up from the first leg, and that was expected to change Esperance’s potency in today’s game.
However, the myriad changes brought nothing but self-determination and ‘hungry-for success’ spirit that transpired in the hearts of Esperance players, setting them on tensed rhythm from the start of the game.
One sense of self-determination in particular saw Esperance got the better of Zamalek in the first 6 minutes when hungry for success Fedi Ben Choug demonstrated a moment of brilliance from deep the right flank.
The French-Tunisian picked the ball from the right flank danced through Zamalek midfield before exchanging a nice piece of decent one-two play with Ibrahim Outtara at the back of the box but unfortunately the returning pass to Bensaha was succinctly blocked by Mohamed Alaa’s hand which resulted in a penalty.
Bensaha stood confidently and struck on target in the middle of the net whilst Zamalek keeper Mohamed Abou-Gabal went the right hand to send the packed Olympique de Redes in jubilant mood when it was just five minutes on the clock.
That could have been the starting point to see more Esperance goals but they were prevented from organizing themselves in a more comfort manner from back through midfield to attack when the quartet of Tarek Hamed, Ferjani Sassi, Mohamed Obama and Ahmed Sayed Zizo made thing difficult for Esperance right after their opener.
The home side then adopted the long ball approach, seeing to capitalize from when Zamalek defenders fail to deal with those long balls. But thanks to Alaa, Hamdi and Abdel Shafy who equally matched Outtara and Bensaha in the air.
On the 69th minute, Esperance nearly grabbed the second goal, Elhouni dazzled inside the box before firing a a nicely placed effort to the near posts but Abou-Gabal did well the save the situation. Four minutes later, Elhouni got Zamalek defense on the break, but Alaa fouled him outside the right edge of the box which the resultant free kick was carefully dealt with whilst Alaa was booked.
Ten minutes to full time quite Mostafa Mohamed was replaced by Kabongo Kasongo whilst Obama made way for Mohamed Hassan seven minutes later. A very resilient Zamalek defence still resisted any dangerous moves incurred by the Tunisians, which brought the game to a 1-0 end in favor of Esperance, but aren’t going to tast semi final football in this year’s Champions League.
This score line sees Zamalek through to the semi finals of the 209-2020 Total CAF Champions League on 3-2 aggregate.
And is their first Champions League semi finals after three years when they last reached the 2016 Champions League final. They will take on the winner between Raja Casablanca who lead 2-0 from the first leg and TP Mazembe in the semi finals.
