CAF Champions League: Mamelodi Sundowns run riot and put up their hand as one of Africa’s best

Things went largely as expected in the first leg for all four ties, with Al Ahly getting the job done on home turf, Mamelodi Sundowns rolling over CR Belouizdad 4-1 in Algeria and Esperance keeping things tight put picking up a win away at JS Kabylie.

The only real shock, and it wasn’t a huge turn up for the books, was Tanzania’s Simba SC beating CCL heavyweights, Wydad Casablanca, to take a one-goal advantage into this weekend.

It’s that tie that will be settled first, too. Wydad playing host to Simba on Friday evening in Morocco to decide which team will be heading into the semifinals where they will almost certainly face Rulani Mokwena’s men from Pretoria.

Jean Othos Baleke got the only goal in Dar es Salaam, and with the Moroccans having lost just one home game in 2023 they’ll be backing themselves to muster up a fightback. They’ll also have in-form attacker, Bouly Sambou, back – and he’ll be hungry to add to his tally in the tournament.

South Africa will play host to the next game, with Belouizdad looking to pull of a miracle at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in an attempt to score four unanswered goals in Masandawana’s backyard – something that’s not been done since 2015.

As expected, Cassius Mailula and Peter Shalulile were on the scoresheet in the first leg as they strengthened their hopes of finishing as the competition’s top scorer, and given that Sundowns have only failed to score in two of their last 21 games at home you’d think this weekend will be no different.

Their league title was wrapped up a long time ago, now it’s all eyes on Africa’s biggest club prize.

And it’s on Saturday night that the other semi will be decided, Ahly travelling to Raja Casablanca with a comfortable 2-0 lead knowing that a fourth clean sheet in a row will be enough to get the job done.

None of their forwards got in on the act in the first leg, though, and they’ll want to try and change that rather than just simply holding on at Stade Mohammed V – the tournament’s greatest outfit certainly know what it takes.

Over in Algiers at the same time Esperance tackle Kabylie knowing that if they keep doing what they’ve been doing for over a year now then they’ll be in the final four. You have to go back to April 2022 to find the last time they were beaten on their home soil, and the visitors’ 11-game winless streak on the road suggests they’re not the team that’s going to change that.

Come Saturday night we’ll know exactly who’s still in with a chance of being crowned the Kings of Africa, and whatever happens those semifinals have got the potential to be absolutely fascinating.