Mamelodi Sundowns are through to the semifinals of the CAF Champions League following their 1-0 aggregate win over Esperance de Tunis.
The Brazilians visited Esperance with a 1-0 lead from the first leg, and managed to hold their opponents to a 0-0 in Rades on Tuesday night.
The scoreless result was enough for Sundowns to book their ticket in the semifinals of Africa’s biggest club competition.
With the stadium packed to rafters, Esperance took the game to Sundowns, as expected.
The home side were in search of an early goal to try and unsettle Sundowns and be able to play their normal game.
However, they were unable to create clearcut goalscoring chances, especially in the first half as Sundowns dominated.
Marcelo Allende gave Esperance a scare on the stroke of half-time as he rattled the crossbar with a long-range shot.
Esperance made a double substitution at the start of the second half in an attempt to find that one important goal.
And they thought they found it in the 68th minute only for the goal to be ruled out for offside after a VAR review.
Sundowns then soaked up the pressure in the remaining minutes of the game, ensuring that they keep Esperance at bay.
Ronwen Williams pulled off a huge save in the dying minutes of stoppage time (nine minutes added) to deny Esperance from a free-kick.
Ultimately, the two sides played to a goalless draw; the result which favoured the South African giants on the night.
STARTING XI’S: ESPERANCE VS MAMELODI SUNDOWNS
ES Tunis Starting XI: Ben Said, Jelassi, Tka, Rodrigues, Sasse, Belaili, Bouchniba, Onuche, Tougai, Hamida, Konate.
Sundowns Starting XI: Williams, Mudau, Kekana, Suarez, Lunga, Allende, Mokoena, Adams, Ribeiro, Sales, Shalulile.
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