MC Alger gave Sudanese powerhouse Al Hilal plenty of trouble on Sunday but the hosts found a late equalizer to draw 1-1 in Mauritania and remain undefeated in Group A of the CAF Champions League. Burundian starlet Jean Claude Girumugisha was the hero, coming on as a substitute to produce a brilliant strike to cancel out the opening goal from MCA's Soufiane Bayazid.
It was a struggle for Hilal who were well contained in the first half by a strong game plan from visitors MCA. The reigning Algerian champions got off to a dream start, opening the scoring in the 5th minute when Amine Messoussa produced a skillful cross with the outside of his boot for Bayazid to volley past Hilal goalkeeper Issa Fofana.
But Hilal's performance significantly improved in the second half following a team talk from experienced Congolese coach Florent Ibengé. After desperate defending prevented Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman from leveling the match in the 67th minute, ten minutes later super sub Girumugisha collected the ball on the left wing and danced past a couple of MCA defender before blasting a fierce effort past keeper Abdelatif Ramdane.
With the result, Hilal maintain a five-point lead at the top of Group A and only need a point to clinch qualification to the quarterfinals. The Sudanese club will host Tanzania's Young Africans next weekend while MCA, in second place one point ahead of Young Africans, will host TP Mazembe without captain Ayoub Abdellaoui who will be suspended.
Match Highlights
Group A Table
GP | Points | |
Al-Hilal | 4 | 10 |
MC Alger | 4 | 5 |
Young Africans | 4 | 4 |
TP Mazembe | 4 | 2 |
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