Staff Reporter.
Kaizer Chiefs will take on Wydad Casablanca in the Caf Champions League semi-finals with the two teams having already met in the group stage earlier this season.
Wydad hammered Amakhosi 4-0 in the group stages, and while they lost the return match 1-0 in Johannesburg, a key result that got Chiefs to the last eight, the Moroccans topped the group by four points.
In the quarterfinals, Wydad won 2-1 on aggregate against Algeria’s MC Alger, beating them 1-0 in Casablanca on Saturday, to take their place in the last four alongside Chiefs, who had lost 3-0 to Simba SC earlier on Saturday, but still made it to the semifinals with a 4-3 aggregate win.
In the other semifinal, Mamelodi Sundowns’ conquerors, Pitso Mosimane’s Al Ahly, will play Tunisian giants Esperance. Esperance bounced back from losing 2-0 to CR Belouizdad in Algeria to also win 2-0 in Rades, with two goals inside the last half an hour.
And it was the Tunisian side that won 3-2 on penalties, to book a meeting with the Red Devils. Esperance’s goals were scored by Algerian Raouf Benguit and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane, who both also netted in the shootout. The semifinal brings together the winners of the last three Champions Leagues, with Esperance winning two editions in a row, before Mosimane’s Ahly picked the trophy up last season.
Al Ahly will be seeking revenge against Tunisian champions Esperance, who defeated the Red Devils in the 2018 Champions League final which remains the last meeting between the two North African giants.
The two semi-final ties are scheduled to be played next month with the first-leg matches scheduled to take place on June 18/19 and the return leg games will then be played on June 25/26.
The winners on aggregate will advance to the final which will take place on 17 July 2021 at Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca, Morocco.