Raja reach Champs Lge group phase

Raja Casablanca players celebrate their advance

Raja Casablanca of Morocco reached the group stage of the Champions League after beating Ivorian side Asec 5-4 on penalties on Saturday to advance.

With the tie finishing 1-1 after regulation time, the three-time winners edged through on spot-kicks.

Mohsine Moutouali converted a 90th minute penalty for the Moroccans to cancel out the visitors’ lead.

Adama Bakayoko gave the visitors the lead on 57 minutes before Raja rallied to take the game into a shoot-out.

Raja held a distinct advantage going into the third round game after the tie was reduced to one leg due to civil unrest in Ivory Coast.

But the visitors came out fighting in the game in Casablanca and deservedly took the lead when Bakayoko struck from the edge of the box.

They clung to the lead until the final minute when Moutouali converted a penalty and forced the game into penalties.

Another former champions Mouloudia Alger of Algeria also qualified for the lucrative mini-league stage of the top-flight continental club competition.

Brahim Bedbouda converted an 88th-minute penalty to give 1976 title holders Mouloudia a 3-2 victory over Angolan police team InterClube in Algiers after a drawn first encounter.

A seesaw struggle saw Youssef Sofiane and Abdelmalek Mokdad give the local team the lead twice and captain Pedro Henriques and ‘Antonio’ equalise for the gallant visitors who trailed 2-1 at half-time.

Entente Setif of Algeria, another former title holder in the field, suffered a surprisingly heavy 4-1 defeat at Cotonsport Garoua of Cameroon in a first leg delayed by African youth championship call-ups.

Meanwhile, crowd trouble marred the Champions League for the second time is as many months when the match between Club Africain of Tunisia and Al-Hilal of Sudan in Rades on Saturday was abandoned.

Spectators invaded the national stadium pitch on the outskirts of capital Tunis with a few minutes left of the third round game and Club needing two goals to avoid elimination.

Hilal won the first leg 1-0 in Omdurman two weeks ago and doubled their aggregate advantage 18 minutes into the first half through Zimbabwe-born striker Edward Sadomba.

Khaled Melliti levelled midway through the second half, but the home side needed to net twice more under the away-goal rule to survive when play was halted.

The winners of these ties qualify for the group stage of the Champions League, while the losers drop into the Confederation Cup competition.