CAF CL Quarter-Final: ES Tunis Pinch Vital First Leg Win On The Road To Kabylie

JS Kabylie lost by the smallest margin against ES Tunis in the quarter-final first leg of the 2023 Champions League, at the July 5 stadium in Algiers. It turned out to be a bitter defeat as the canaries showed great will but fell short in the final third.

Tie favorites, Espérance Tunis held its maintained its status during the first quarter-final first leg of the African Champions League by bringing back a precious one-nil victory from Algiers against JS Kabylie on Friday.

Despite possession largely in their favor (65%), the Tunisians struggled in the first halve. Chances were few and far between in the first half except an off-target half-volley from El Houni. As the game went on, the Algerians proved to be the most incisive on their counterattacks, with contentious activity in the surface of the EST by Boumechra, who was doing the most.

Everything changed when both teams returned from the locker room: on a touch quickly played by El Houni, Ben Hammouda took advantage of a moment of hesitation in the Algerian defense to go on and beat Hadid (0-1, 54th).

It was super efficiency from the men of Nabil Maaloul who had their back to the wall. Alili had a huge chance to equalise in the last minutes, but Ben Cherifia, again, was saved by the furniture. The EST take a qualification option before the return leg next weekend at home.