Angola’s Petro du Luanda on Saturday failed to use their home ground advantage as they went down 3-1 at the hands of Wydad Casablanca of Morocco in the first leg of the CAF Champions League semi-final.
Wydad took the lead in the 16th minute, as Attyat Allah had his free kick directed into the back of the net by Petro captain Tiago Azulao.
Guy Mbenza came close to doubling the lead minutes later, the forward latched onto a pass from Badi Aouk, before seeing his effort blocked by the on-rushing Wellington Gomes.
Petro nearly leveled the matters in the 23th minute when William da Silva was slipped through on goal by Pedro Miguel, but the striker was superbly denied in a one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
Wydad dominated the matters and they found their second goal after a miss from Jaredi Teixeria resulted to Yahya Jabrane doubling the advantage following a powerful shot from outside the box.
Petro regained their attacking momentum coming from the halftime break and Gleison Moreira should have given them the lead just before the hour-mark with a free header at the near post that sailed agonisingly wide.
Moreira almost made up for his glaring miss a couple of minutes later after his cross found Pinto unmarked at the back post but the latter’s low curler was saved by Ahmed Tagnaouti.
Guy Mbenza increased Wydad advantage in the 68th minute when he tucked his shot past the Brazilian keeper from seven yards out following good link-up play with Zouhair El Moutaraji on the left.
Wydad were punished ten minutes before the end of the match when Ricardo Job found the back of the net from a free-kick.
How they lined up:
Petro de Luanda: Wellington, Afonso (Danny 87′), Pinto, Quinito, Carneiro, Soares, Pessoa (Maya 85′), Jaredi (Cruz 80′), Azulao, Gleison (Job 63′), Yano (Castro 63′).
Wydad Casablanca: Tagnaouti, El Amloud, Dari, Farhane, Allah, El Hassouni (Rahim 89′), El Moutaraji (Serrhat 78′), Aouk, Jabrane, Haimoud (Benyachou 77′), Mbenza (Tsoumou 73′).
