CAF Champions League: WAC cruise past Petro in semifinal first-leg
Wydad Atletic Club are firmly have one foot in the finals after cruising to a 3-1 victory in the first leg of their CAF Champions League semifinal tie against Petro de Luanda, at the 11 November Stadium on Saturday.
The Red Castle capitalised on the space afforded to them as they took a two-goal lead into the break and Guy Mbenza put the result beyond doubt with a third in the second half.
Job gave the Tricolores a glimmer of hope with a consolation goal late on, but Walid Regragui’s side are in control of their destiny after scoring three away goals.
Petro had the lion’s share of the possession and they provided the first real scare after just four minutes when Tiago Azulao directed a header narrowly over the crossbar from a free-kick.
The Brazilian went on to find the back of the net 12 minutes later, although it came at the other end as he inadvertently glanced Yahia Attiyat Allah’s in-swinging free-kick from the right past Wellington to give the visitors the lead.
Alexandre Santos’ team went in search of an equaliser but they were restricted to shots from range and never troubled Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti in the first half.
Wydad would take control of proceedings on the stroke of half-time as Jabrane was played into a pocket of space in the right channel and he lined up a shot from 25 yards out that flew into the top left corner of the net to double their advantage.
The hosts were unfortunate not to halve the deficit three minutes after the restart when Gleison saw his effort from inside the box come back off the right post.
Tagnaouti was finally called into action on 65 minutes as To Carneiro forced him into a save with a strike from inside the area on the left and Wellington had to keep out a long-range effort from Mbenza at the opposite end of the pitch two minutes later.
Mbenza had the beating of Wellington moments later though, tucking his shot past the Brazilian keeper from seven yards out following good link-up play with Zouhair El Moutaraji on the left.
The Tricolores almost found an immediate response as Erico Castro drew a smart save out of Tagnaouti with a shot from range and they would eventually pull one nine minutes from time through Job, who curled a free-kick into the top right corner of the net.
