Advantage Al Ahly as Atletico Luanda shock Mamelodi Sundowns in battle for semifinals

The quarter-final fixtures for the 2021/22 CAF Champions League season got underway across the continent this weekend. 

Defending champions Al Ahly, Wydad Casablanca, and Atletico Petro de Luanda all picked up first-leg victories to put them halfway through to the semifinals of Africa's elite club competition.

ES Setif and Esperance played out the only draw of the round, a 0-0 stalemate in Algiers with the tie well-balanced for when Esperance hosts the return leg in a week's time.

Atletico Petro de Luanda picked up a surprise 2-1 victory over Mamelodi Sundowns in the first leg of their tie at the Estadio 11 de Novembro on Saturday. 

Lyle Lakay scored for the South African visitors just six minutes into the tie but the lead was short-lived as the Angolans levelled the scores just 10 minutes later.

Petro de Luanda's talisman Tiago Azulao capitalised on To Carneiro's assist to equalise for the hosts in a frenzied first quarter of an hour.

Azulao's goal was his fifth in the competition this year, which takes the Brazilian top of the goalscorers' chart, one goal more than Esperance's Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane.

Yano's first-half stoppage-time goal gave Atletico Luanda the lead for the first time in the match, which ended at 2-1 as both sides failed to add to their goal tallies in the second half.

North African neighbours ES Setif and Esperance de Tunis played a first-leg goalless draw at the Stade du 5 Juillet in Algiers on Friday night.

Tunisian giants Esperance had the better of the night and were unlucky to not convert any of their 14 shots to a goal in their match-up.

Nigeria's Kingsley Eduwo and Anayo Iwuala both started for Esperance as well as Esperance's CAF Champions League topscorer Ben Romdhane, but neither of the trio could find the back of the net. 

The Radhi Jaidi-led Esperance side will hope to secure their place in the last four of the competition when they host ES Setif for the return leg at the Rades Olympic Stadium on Friday, April 22.

Defending champions Al Ahly recovered from their group stage blushes to pick up an impressive 2-1 first-leg victory against Raja Casablanca at the Al-Salam Stadium in Cairo.

Hussein Al Shahat put in an impressive first-half performance for the Egyptian giants, winning a VAR-adjudged penalty that Amr Al-Sulaya converted in the 13th minute.

Al Shahat then doubled Al Ahly's lead in the 23rd minute, receiving a pass from Percy Tau to slam home his second goal in six CAF Champions League matches this season. 

Al-Sulaya could have given Al Ahly a comfortable two-goal cushion going into the return leg but the midfielder missed a penalty in the 61st minute after Mohamed Azrida had halved the deficit for Raja Casablanca in first-half stoppage time.

In the last fixture of the quarterfinal first legs, Wydad Casablanca picked up an impressive 1-0 away victory against CR Belouizdad at the Stade du 5 Juillet on Saturday.

Despite going one man down as early as the seventh minute with a red card to Jalal Daoudi, Wydad Casablanca produced a defensive masterclass away in Algiers.

Wydad had only 25% of the ball possession but managed to score with one of just two shots on target whilst they faced a barrage of 23 shots from the home side.

Guy Mbenza gave Wydad Casablanca the all-important goal in the 46th minute as the Moroccan side prepare to finish the job when they host CR Belouizdad at the Stade Mohammed V in a week's time.