With teams six matches into the second part of the Tunisia Ligue 1 Professionnelle season, it appears that the high volume of matches is taking a toll on defending Tunisian champions Espérance ST. The Blood and Gold qualified for the CAF Champions League semifinals that will start this weekend with a first leg match against Egyptian titans Al Ahly but EST slumped to a 1-0 defeat against Club Africain in the latest Tunis Derby on Sunday. A diving header from Hamdi Labidi in the 81st minute gave CA the first victory over their rivals since April 2019 and dropped Espérance to fifth place on eleven points.
Club Africain moved into second place with fourteen points, four behind league leaders Étoile du Sahel. Étoile defeated the previous holders of second position, US Ben Guerdane, by a 2-0 score on Sunday with second half goals from Yassine Chamakhi and former Nice player Assil Jaziri. A defeat in the Tunisian Classico two weeks ago is the only blemish on the record of Étoile in the championship stage as they continue to chase their first domestic league title since the 2015-16 season.
Elsewhere in the championship stage there were dominant victories for US Monastir and CS Sfaxien. Watch the highlights from all four matches over the weekend below.
Scores
US Tataouine 0-4 CS Sfaxien
Étoile du Sahel 2-0 US Ben Guerdane
Club Africain 1-0 Espérance ST
US Monastir 3-0 Olympique Béja
League Table
Highlights
Club Africain 1-0 Espérance ST
Étoile du Sahel 2-0 US Ben Guerdane
US Monastir 3-0 Olympique Béja
US Tataouine 0-4 CS Sfaxien
