JOHANNESBURG: African club powerhouses Al Ahly of Egypt and Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa were both held to away draws on matchday two of the CAF Champions League on Friday.
Record 12-time African champions Ahly came from behind to hold FAR Rabat 1-1 in Morocco with former Aston Villa striker Mahmoud ‘Trezeguet’ Hassan equalising on 68 minutes for the Red Devils.
Mouhcine Bouriga had put FAR ahead on 37 minutes, firing the rebound past Mostafa Shobeir after the goalkeeper has parried a Mohamed Hrimat penalty.
Also in Group B, a disappointing start by JS Kabylie of Algeria continued when held 0-0 at home by Young Africans of Tanzania.
The Algerian Canaries dropped two points in Tizi Ouzou after suffering a 4-1 beating by Ahly in Cairo last weekend.
After an indifferent passage through the qualifying rounds, Young Africans began their group campaign with a home win over FAR.
Ahly and Young Africans have four points each and FAR and Kabylie one in a competition that will resume in mid January after the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
The eagerly anticipated Group C clash of Mouloudia Alger of Algeria and Sundowns ended 0-0 with little to excite the capacity 45,000 crowd in Algiers.
Sundowns played possession football in their half in the closing stages, clearly content to leave north Africa with a draw and a one-point lead over Al Hilal of Sudan, who play on Sunday.
When 1976 champions Mouloudia did get the ball into the net on 88 minutes, scorer Soufiane Bayazid was clearly offside.
Algerian Zinedine Zerhat squandered the best chance of the opening half, lobbing over the ball over the bar when one-on-one with Sundowns captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.
- Dramatic Berkane victory -
Mouloudia are guided by 38-year-old South African Rulani Mokwena, the former coach of Sundowns.
Ahly and Sundowns are ranked first and second among African clubs and were the only sides to receive byes in the first qualifying round.
Meanwhile, Rivers United of Nigeria conceded twice deep in added time to lose 2-1 at home against Champions League debutants Renaissance Berkane of Morocco.
Rivers took the lead after 38 minutes in Uyo when Senegalese midfielder Mamadou Camara conceded an own goal.
The Nigerian club retained the lead until the 97th minute when poor marking after a free-kick allowed substitute Youness El Kaabi to fire past goalkeeper Osage Onisodumeya.
Stunned Rivers fell behind just one minute later when French forward Mounir Chouiar scored by reacting quickest to a shot that rebounded off the woodwork.
Securing three unexpected points maintained a perfect start in Group A by Berkane, who are competing in the premier African club competition after winning the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup three times.
Known as the Orange Boys because Berkane is the center of the citrus growing region in northeast Morocco, they began their group campaign with a 3-0 home victory over Power Dynamos of Zambia.
A major boost for Berkane was the return, off the bench, of star striker Oussama Lamlioui after injury. He replaced Senegalese Paul Bassene midway through the second half in Nigeria.
Defending champions Pyramids of Egypt, who face Power Dynamos in Zambia on Saturday, and Berkane are favored to fill the top two places and secure quarter-finals places.
