First Togolese Club Reaches ACL Group Phase

Port of Togo and Morocco’s Difaa el Jadida caused the biggest shocks at the weekend Sunday in the second leg of the African Champions League ACL last-32 ties.
Port became the first Togolese side to make the group phase of Africa’s elite club competition, knocking out Sudan’s Al Hilal on away-goals.
Difaa el Jadida overcame former African champions AS Vita Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo with a 2-2 draw in Kinshasa to win 3-2 on aggregate.
Port knew they had a good chance to create history in the second leg of their tie against Al Hilal, having won their home leg 2-0 in Togo.
Al Hilal took the aggregate score to 2-1 after just five minutes through Geovane, but Port hit back immediately as Ayi struck two minutes later to make it 3-1 overall.
The hosts continued to try and claw their way back and were rewarded with further goals from Elnour and Bashier in the second half to make it 3-3 overall.
However, it was not enough for the Sudanese outfit as Port secured their passage into the group phase on the away-goals ruling.
Morocco’s Difaa el Jadida – who earlier in the competition had achieved a record win over Benfica of Guinea-Bissau – took a slender 1-0 lead to Kinshasa for the return leg against Vita Club.
Mundele hit a brace for Vita Club but it was not enough, as a goal from Ahaddad and then a stoppage time equaliser from Nanah gave Jadida a 2-2 draw on the night, to win 3-2 on aggregate.
The clubs who qualified for the Champions League group phase will now be divided into four pools after a seeded draw, with the winners and runners-up from each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.