The Gambia’s league champions Brikama United came from behind to share points with current African champions Esperance of Tunisia, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg of the second round tie played on Saturday at West Coast Region’s biggest football arena Brikama Box Bar Mini Stadium.
The African and Tunisian champions made a flying start to the game and caused serious assaults at Brikama United’s goal mouth.
They then opened the score through striker Wajdi Bouazzi in the 4th minute of the game after slashing through Brikama United’s defence line to smash the ball at the net and earn a lead.
Brikama United responded back for an equaliser and created some goal-scoring chances, which paid dividend in the 15th minute of the game when striker Musa Bojang levelled the score for Brikama United from a goal-mouth scramble and thus the first half ended 1-1 all, which happened to be the final score at the end of the 90-minute tough encounter.
Esperance will host Brikama United in the return leg on 7 April this year in Tunis.
Esperance Coach optimistic
The head coach of Esperance Michael Castel said they will come all out to snatch a victory against Brikama United in the return leg in a fortnight in Tunisia.
Coach Castel made this statement in an interview with reporters shortly after their crunch clash with the Gambian league champions.
Castel said the game was “very tough” and Brikama United performed “very well” and managed to snatch a draw against his team.
He expressed confidence that his team will beat Brikama United in the return leg and secure a place in the group phase, adding that they cannot afford to miss the group stage and would do all they could to ensure a win against Brikama United.
The head coach of Brikama United, Sulayman Kuyateh, in his remarks, said he was really impressed with the performance of his team despite the 1-1 draw in the first leg.
Coach Kuyateh said his side put up a respectable performance against Esperance, adding that his team should have won the game but failed to capitalize on their goal-scoring opportunities.
Brikama United can beat Esperance in the return leg in Tunisia in a fortnight and progress to the group stage of the CAF African Champions league, the Gambian coach says with optimism.
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