The Tunisian team, Esperance, will host its Ivorian counterpart, ASEC Mimosas, at 11:00 pm today, Saturday, at the Hamadi Al-Aqrabi stadium in Rades, as part of the first leg of the quarter-finals of the tournament. African Champions League Season 2023-2024, with the two teams facing off in the return match on Saturday evening, April 6, at Stade Felix Houphouet-Boigny in Abidjan.
The Esperance team qualified for the quarter-finals of the African Champions League after coming in second place in its third group with 11 points behind Angola’s Petro Atletico. It achieved a win in 3 matches, a draw in two matches, and a defeat in a match.
While the ASEC Mimosas team qualified for the quarter-finals after topping the second group with 11 points, achieving victory in 3 matches, a draw in two matches, and defeat in one match against Wydad of Morocco.
Esperance, led by Portuguese coach Miguel Cardoso, is seeking to achieve a comfortable result in today’s match that will help it secure qualification before the return match, as the leader of the Tunisian clubs wants to win a fifth title in the competition and the first since 2019.
Esperance also hopes to qualify for the finals of the Club World Cup in its first updated edition, which will be hosted by the United States in 2025, and Africa will be represented by four teams, including Al-Ahly of Egypt and Wydad of Morocco.
Esperance will play the match with a complete squad free of absences, after the return of Mohamed Ali Ben Hamouda and Bilal Al-Saheli, to strengthen the team’s ranks.
Esperance and ASEC will meet for the ninth time in the African competition, after facing them in 8 previous matches, where the Côte d’Ivoire champion won 4 matches, compared to two victories for the Tunisian champion.
The Esperance administration issued a statement warning the club’s fans against “infiltrators” entering the stands to cause chaos and cause penalties when hosting ASEC Mimosas.
The Esperance administration called on the fans to be “the protective shield and to stand as one man in front of anyone who dares to harm the club,” indicating that the administration will take all necessary legal proactive measures to deal with the threats and will write to the relevant authorities.
Esperance leads the Tunisian Premier League after losing the title last season, and hopes to continue its journey in the Champions League and regain the continental title that has been absent since 2019.