Goalkeepers taking penalties, bicycle kicks and more in the Champions League
Matchday 4 of the CAF Champions League threw up plenty of quality, drama and nonsense as the tournament comes to life in 2025
For a fourth week in a row Al Hilal impressed, Al Ahly finally lose after almost two years, Raja and Sundowns share three red cards and Pyramids pull off the comeback of the season. Just another week in the CAF Champions League.
Group A
The Al Hilal story just can’t be stopped.
“I often say: what I will remember when I stop my career are human relationships. These are not necessarily the trophies won, but rather the shared experiences, the adventures lived together. And here, I live a totally different adventure, where we don't just play football,” said Florent Ibenge ahead of the team’s 1-1 draw against MC Alger.
It certainly has been a different adventure this season as the Sudanese club kicks off 2025 thousands of miles away from home in Mauritania. And for 50 minutes it looked like that adventure hit a stumbling block. Buoyed by more than a thousand fans who made the 1,700 mile trip from Algiers to Nouakchott, MC Alger stifled the Sudanese club and fans, taking an early lead through Soufiane Bayazid.
But if this Al Hilal team is anything, it is resilient. And for the fourth game in a row, the Blue Wave scored late, and for a second time this Champions League it was substitute Jean-Claude Girumugisha who scored a belter to secure the draw which qualifies Al Hilal for the knockouts, the only team to have done so.
If we are lucky, as football fans, we get to see the ultimate football thriller once a year, a goalkeeper scoring. What about a goalkeeper scoring in the first half? That’s exactly what Alioune Faty gave us and TP Mazembe as the Senegalese keeper scored a 16th minute penalty to give the Ravens the lead in a do or die game in Dar Es Salaam.
Sadly for Faty, the euphoria was short lived as a Clement Mzize-inspired Yanga fought back to thrash Mazembe. Mzize rocketed in a 30 yard screamer before star-man Stephane Aziz Ki gave Wananchi the lead and Mzize wrapped up the points in the second half.
The win for Yanga gives them hope but they will need Mazembe to do them a favour and take some points off Mouloudia before Yanga welcome the Algerians to Tanzania on the final matchday.
Group B
A roaring Stade Mohammed V, three red cards and plenty of laser pens; this is African football at its most thrilling. Despite their dreadful form in the Champions League and the Botola Pro as well as chaos of the pitch, Raja Casablanca fans turned up in colour and voice giving the match a feeling of a semi final or final.
Despite the support, it was Sundowns who edged the first half against a nervous Raja side. But that all changed in the final minutes of the first half. Bathusi Aubaas’ late studs up late challenge saw the defender sent off, derailing Sundowns game. Miguel Cardoso would have just wanted his side to make it to half time where they could regroup. Instead a failed offside trap let Benaissa Benamar receive the ball just six yards out with no one near him and he duly tapped home.
After surviving the second half, Sundowns were given a glimmer of hope when Marouane Zila was sent off just five minutes after coming off the bench. But after playing 40 minutes down a man, Sundowns weren’t able to take advantage of another ten minutes of parity before Khuliso Mudau was sent off in the final minute for punching Nawfel Zerhouni off the ball.
At the same time up the road in Meknes ASFAR Rabat secured their place at the top of the group and took one large step towards qualifying out of the group of death. Khalid Ouarkhane finished from close range to give the Moroccans the lead before Amine Zouhzouh doubled the lead from a freekick. While Zouhzouh will take the credit, it was the Maniema keeper Brudel Efonge who deserved all the credit, having completely misjudged the flight of the ball to let it squeeze past him in the middle of the goal.
Flying high in the Botola Pro, Hubert Velud has settled in the capitol. His Al Zaeem are now ten games unbeaten in all competitions and are on the verge of qualifying for the knockouts of the Champions League for the first time since the tournament moved to a group stage format in 1997.
Group C
Some records are there to be beaten, some may never be beaten, and others simply beggar belief. Al Ahly’s 27 games unbeaten in the CAF Champions League very much falls into the latter category. It is genuinely unthinkable to think that any team could ever come close to matching that record. It beats Manchester City’s record of 26 games unbeaten (which includes penalty losses) and almost doubles the record of 15 games unbeaten in the Copa Libertadores, set by Club Sporting Cristal.
But what makes Al Ahly’s all the more astonishing is that it has been done on a continent where away games are some of the most difficult in the world, so for them to go unbeaten for almost two years and across three seasons truly astounding.
It is for that reason that CR Belouizdad also deserve a huge amount of credit. Having been humbled 6-1 in Cairo just a few weeks ago, Abdelkader Amrani has worked wonders to turn around his side and salvage their Champions League campaign. Belouizdad were good value for their win. They were by far the better side and took advantage of an injury ravaged Al Ahly side but it looked like they would have to settle for a point until the 91st minute when an uncharacteristically lax save from Mohamed El Shenawy gifted Naoufel Khacef with a tap in.
The win breaks open the group and gives Belouizdad hope ahead of their final games.
Having failed to take their chances in Abidjan and seen Belouizdad beat Al Ahly, Orlando Pirates welcomed Stade d'Abidjan to Johannesburg, needing a win to keep their chances of going through alive. They duly delivered with the Kasi Flava that this club represents.
Patrick Maswanganyi and Relebohile Mofokeng were at their thrilling best, weaving tricks, flair and personality with cutting edge to put the Ivorians to the sword in Orlando Stadium. Mofokeng’s was the pick of the bunch. The winger virtually walked the ball in after a brilliant flowing moving that carved open the Abidjan defence.
With both Belouizdad and Pirates winning, the group is set for a thrilling finale. Pirates head to Cairo before hosting Belouizdad which regardless of the next games’ results will be a deciding fixture with one of the teams likely going home.
Group D
Perhaps the least thrilling group was given a life-line as Pyramids showed some steel to come from behind with two goals in injury-time to beat Espérance.
Taraji had played the perfect away game on the continent. The Tunisians had stifled their Egyptians and taken the lead through the 2019 AFCON star Youcef Belaili. But in the 90th minute Mostafa Fathi’s cross was allowed to ghost its way through the defence and into the far corner of the net before Pyramids’ Egyptian star Ibrahim Adel scored with an outrageous bicycle kick just three minutes later to turn the game on its head and keep Pyramids level with Espérance at the top of the group.
Pyramids’ win was much needed as Angolan side Sagrada Esperança edged out Malian club Djoliba to stay just two points behind their North African rivals. Angolan striker Mussa scored the only goal of the game with a lovely acrobatic finish inside the box. Despite a Malian onslaught in the second half, Segrada held on for all three points, putting them in a place to perhaps steal a second place spot.
With both Espérance and Pyramids to face bottom boys Djoliba and Segrada, it is a tall order for the Angolans but they’ve given themselves a chance of getting out of the group.
Essential viewing
There were screamers, overhead kicks and plenty of brilliant moments of skill this weekend in the Champions League and Confederation Cup but the pick of the bunch has to be Alioune Faty’s penalty for TP Mazembe. Keepers taking penalties are a once in a blue moon event and we have to simply drink it in.