It look like ES Sétif will not advance to the CAF Champions League final following their 4-0 first leg defeat to Egypt’s Al Ahly in the semifinal over the weekend but Les Aigles Noirs took out their frustration on poor RC Relizane on Tuesday with a 7-0 destruction. Akram Djahnit started off the scoring with a 27th minute penalty and two more goals in the following ten minutes gave ESS a 3-0 halftime lead.
The opportunities kept arriving for the hosts and they scored four more goals in the final half hour to give the home fans more to celebrate. Riad Benayad scored twice during this stretch along with goals from Motrani Zoubir and Abderrahim Deghmoum to complete a domination of Relizane, whose relegation is all but confirmed now. Sétif are in 8th place but with only 11 points separating them from leaders CR Belouizdad and games to make up on the teams above them, a firm opportunity to at least reach the top-3 remains.
As for Belouizdad, Le Grand Chabab continued their struggles in the other match on Tuesday with a 1-1 draw against mid-table side RC Arbaâ. CRB scored their first goal in league play since bowing out to Morocco’s Wydad AC in the CAFCL quarterfinals but it came in their third league match since then, stretching their winless streak to three games. Ibrahim Saidani opened the scoring for visitors RCA on the hour mark before Abderrahmane Bourdim leveled ten minutes later for CRB thanks to a goalkeeper error on his long range effort. CRB are four points ahead of JS Saoura at the top of the table with one less match played.
Highlights from Tuesday’s games are below.
ES Sétif 7-0 RC Relizane
CR Belouizdad 1-1 RC Arbaâ
