ENYIMBA INTERNATIONAL, REMO STARS, KNOCKED OUT OF CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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By Aishat Momoh. O.

Enyimba International, the champions of the Nigerian Premier League, were eliminated from the CAF Champions League on Sunday in Aba after playing to a scoreless tie with Libya’s Ahly Benghazi.

The People’s Elephant scored three away goals against Ahly Benghazi in the first leg last week in Libya, which ended 3-4 in favour of the North Africans and required just one unanswered goal to advance to the second preliminary round.

Enyimba dominated the opening half of the second-leg match at the Enyimba International Stadium in Aba as the opposition sat back and awaited a chance to catch the Nigerian champions off guard.

The People’s Elephants maintained their superiority in the second half and made numerous attempts to score, but the Libyan defence stayed their ground.

George Owen of Enyimba missed the greatest opportunity of the game in the 75th minute as the anxiety in the home crowd reached unfathomable levels.

While Ahly Benghazi advanced to the second round 4-3 on aggregate, the two-time African champions were unable to break the scoreless tie despite the addition of six minutes by the centre referee.

Meanwhile, after losing to Medeama SC of Ghana’s Premier League on penalties on Sunday at Remo Stars Stadium in Ikenne, Remo Stars FC was eliminated from the 2023 CAF Champions League.

The Sky Blue Stars required two unanswered goals in the return game of the CAF Champions League preliminary round after they narrowly lost the first leg 1-0 at the Cape Coast Stadium in Ghana.

The game ended 1-0 in favour of the home team but was level 1-1 on the overall score after a scoreless first half. Remo stars then broke the scoreless tie in the 73rd minute with an own goal.

The game was immediately decided by penalties; however, Remo Stars could only make two of their efforts, while Medeama SC made three, resulting in a shootout score of 2-3 in favour of the Ghanaians.

Remo Stars have failed to go past the first round of the CAF Inter-Club Competition for the second straight season.

The team lost to Medeama SC of Ghana after losing to FAR Rabat of Morocco in the CAF Confederation Cup’s opening round last year.

In the second round of the qualification, Horoya of Guinea will play against Medeama SC.