Preview: Esperance vs Al Ahly – Champions League Semi-final

Venue: Hammadi Al-Aqrabi Olympic Stadium, Rades-Tunisia.

 
Referee: South African referee Victor Gomes will officiate the first leg.He has been a FIFA referee since 2011 and handled last year’s CAF Super Cup between Zamalek and Esperance which Zamalek triumphed by 3-1. 

H2H 

It has been a regular fixture since the beginning of the 21st century.18 meetings between the two giants with Ahly winning eight of those and four for Esperance with 6 draws.Their Recent meetings in 2018,they were in group A of the CCL,0-0 in Egypt on matchday 1 and Ahly won 1-0 in the reverse fixture on matchday 5 in Tunisia. 

They met in the finals that same season with Ahly winning 3-1 in the first leg. Esperance surprisingly won by 3-0 in Tunis. 
Mangers: 

Esperance

The 40-year old Moine Chabaani is a formal defender for Esperance Tunis and made just 1 appearance for the Tunisian national team. The young manager has often been compared to the formal Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane, simply because of the fact that he led Espérance to the CAF Champions League, Africa’s equivalent of the UEFA Champions League, in both 2018 and 2019 titles. Chaabani’s Espérance competed in the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup that was won by Los Blancos. He’s  a top manager at that young age. 

It’s going to be a game managed by two of the finest managers now on the continent.

Al Ahly

Pitso Mosimane is undoubtedly the best manager we have now on this continent. He has won all that he’s supposed to win. Two CAF Champions league titles; 2016 with Sundowns and 2020 with Ahly. He finished 3rd place in the FIFA Club World Cup last season. He won Ahly their first treble in 13 years.

Team news 

Esperance

Esperance’s 21-year-old Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane has scored 4 goals in 8 games.Hence,he is the current joint-top scorer in the tournament alongside Amir Sayoud of CR Belouizdad. 
Khalil Chemmam is still out with muscle injury. Moez Ben Cherifa is expected to be in post. Nagguez, Bedrane, Ilyes Chetti, Ben Hamida to complete the back four. Ivorian Fousseini koulibally will play as the DM, Chalaali, star-man Mohammed Ben Romdhane, Badri and Elhouni will support his only striker, Taha Khenissi or the Ghanaian Abdul Khalid Basit. 

Al Ahly

Ahly players have rested for almost 2 weeks. Their last game was the 2-0 win against RS Berkane in the CAF super cup. Playmaker Magdi Kafsha according to reports is fully fit to play. Tunisian left-back Maaloul is 100 % fit to play. Ahmed Ramadan Beckham is likely to replace RB Mohammed Hany. Pitso has almost a fully fit squad at his disposal. 
PredictionsAhly remains the favourite to qualify for the finals in the both legs but expect a good results for the Tunisians.1-0 Esperance. 

by: Amakye Ansah

e-mail: nanaamakyeansaholiver@gmail.com