North African neighbours Esperance and Wydad are into the finals of the Champions League The African Champions League is nearing its end. The semi-finals took place over the weekend. The two finalists were determined and as usual, it is an All-North African clash. Both Esperance of Tunisia and Wydad of Morocco made it to the final of the biggest club football competition on the continent. Esperance qualified for a second consecutive African Champions League final by defeating Sudanese visitors Al-Hilal 2-0 Saturday while Wydad booked its place after ousting the famous Nigerian side Eniymba 1-0 on aggregate. The second leg ended in a scoreless draw. The predictable victory behind closed doors at the national stadium in a Tunis suburb completed a 3-0 aggregate success for the Tunisian side, who won the competition in 1994 and have been losing finalists three times since. Deprived of crowd support after trouble in a group match last month, Esperance took the lead seven minutes into the second half through Youssef Msakni, and Wajdi Bouazza added a second in the final minute. Msakni grabbed the lone goal of the first leg in Omdurman two weeks ago and has now struck five in the competition this season -- two less than leading scorer Edward Sadomba from Hilal. Defeat was particularly bitter for the Sudanese side, who axed Serb coach Milutin Sredojevic after the first-leg loss, as they were failing at the penultimate stage for the third time within five years. Wydad Casablanca qualified for the finals after holding Enyimba to a goalless draw in the second leg semi-final played in Aba, Nigeria. Enyimba had been expected to turn round a one-goal disadvantage on their home soil. As CAF online described the game, Enyimba entered the game with confidence but failed to show flashes of a determined side in all 45 minutes of the first half. Wydad, meanwhile, in apparent disregard for the intimidating capacity crowd in Enyimba Stadium, attacked from all fronts. Wydad's Skouma Ayoub came close to drawing first blood in the 12th minute when his thunderous shot hit the bar after catching Enyimba's goalkeeper Paul Godwin napping. The 1992 champions Wydad thus go through to the finals and will after 19 years be locked in a battle of champions with North African neighbors Esperance. The first leg of the final is scheduled for this month with the second leg two weeks later.
