CAF Champions League: TP Mazembe eliminated as MAS Fes advance

TP Mazembe were knocked out of the CAF Champions League by Club Africain on Sunday, while Moroccan champions MAS Fes reached the next stage after a late victory over ASEC Mimosas.

The Congolese side arrived at the Stade olympique Hammadi Agrebi in Rades needing a result after being held to a 1-1 draw at home in the first leg.

However, Club Africain secured a 1-0 victory in the return match to go through 2-1 on aggregate. Taddeus Nkeng, the Cameroon striker who moved to Tunisia from Stade Malien last summer, scored the decisive goal in first-half stoppage time in the 45th minute plus two.

The result means TP Mazembe have failed to qualify for the second successive year.

ASEC Mimosas also suffered elimination after losing 2-1 at home to MAS Fes at the Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan. The tie had been level at 1-1 after the first leg.

MAS Fes took the lead in the 62nd minute through new signing Christopher Ibayi. ASEC Mimosas restored parity when Kevin Bakare scored in the 73rd minute, but Khalid Baba struck seven minutes into added time to send the Moroccan club through.

The victory takes MAS Fes back into the CAF Champions League after a 14-year absence.

The outcome was another setback for clubs from Cote d’Ivoire, with ASEC Mimosas joining fellow Ivorians FC San Pedro in exiting the competition.

FC San Pedro were beaten 2-0 by Nouadhibou in Nouakchott, despite having won the opening match 2-1 at San-Pedro with a goal scored in the 90th minute plus eight.

Nouadhibou overturned that deficit by scoring in the 10th and 53rd minutes, completing a 3-2 aggregate victory and ending FC San Pedro’s campaign.