Kinzumbi’s late strike spurs dramatic turnaround as Mazembe returns to CAF champions league semis

A dramatic revival in the African fortunes of TP Mazembe took the Democratic Republic of Congo club to the CAF Champions League semi-finals on Saturday.

Giants of the DR Congo, TP Mazembe, defeated Petro Luanda of Angola 2-1 on the road to guarantee their spot in the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League Semi-Finals.

After a scoreless first half in Lubumbashi, Jonathan Toro’s first goal nearly sent the Angolan team to their second-ever TotalEnergies CAF Champions League, but a revitalised Mazembe team returned from the break to turn the game around away from home.

The Angolan champions controlled the first half of the encounter as predicted, launching attacks from the middle through the deft Pedro Miguel, who tugged strings for the home team.

To the visitors’ relief, danger man Jonathan Toro’s well-hit volley went just over the bar in the ninth minute, almost creating the opening.

The attacker did make apologies in the 29th minute when he scored a well-executed goal to give his team the lead at the halfway point.

As the game appeared to be headed towards a home win, Philippe Kinzumbi stunned the audience in the 82nd minute with a grass-cutter that defeated Hugo Marques to tie the score.

The goal served as a shocking wake-up call for the hosts, who had already begun to celebrate by sending numerous players forward.

However, this move was disastrously countered when Joel Beya scored a late goal in referee’s optional time to put Mazembe ahead 2-1 and set up a tantalising semifinal matchup with the defending champions, Al Ahly.

In order to find out which among the two will go to the finals, Mazembe will now get ready to play the record-holding champions in a two-leg match.

The first match will take place at home on April 19 and the second match will take place away on April 26.