Stunned Sundowns dumped out of the Champions League by Esperance

A third Champions League final appearance for Mamelodi Sundowns will have to wait.

Their hopes went up in smoke on Friday night in front of a packed Loftus as they went down 1-0 to Esperance who progressed to the final against Al Ahly, who beat TP Mazembe in the semifinal in Cairo.

Sundowns supporters were left heartbroken and stunned by a second-half goal from substitute attacker Raed Bouchniba as Esperance successfully negotiated safe passage to the final with a 2-0 aggregate win.

Esperance, who dished out a strong defensive play, won 1-0 in Tunis last week and wrapped up this two-legged semifinal by the same margin in Pretoria to book a place in the final where they will be looking to win it for the first time since the 2018/2019 season.

Though there was disappointment of once again having failed to make it to the final, the Brazilians will have small consolation that they have qualified for the Fifa Club World Cup in 2025. 

The match was disrupted for about an hour because of heavy rain accompanied by lighting in the early stages of the first half. The suspension of the match came at the right time for Esperance who were under pressure from Sundowns.

This defeat also means that Themba Zwane and Denis Onyango will have to wait for their opportunity to make a second appearance in the final of the Champions League. 

Zwane and Onyango are the only two Sundowns players in the current Sundowns squad who have won this tournament when they beat Zamalek in 2016 under coach Pitso Mosimane. 

Sundowns coach Mokwena made ten changes to the team that beat Sekhukhune United 2-1 in the league midweek with Rivaldo Coetzee the only survivor from the starting line-up of that match. 

Coetzee kept his place in the starting line-up because midfield kingpin Teboho Mokoena is nursing a hamstring injury that saw him miss the hard-fought win over Sekhukhune on Tuesday. 

Mokwena recalled regular starters such as Ronwen Williams, Grant Kekana, Mvala, Khuliso Mudau, Marcelo Allende, Lucas Ribeiro and Peter Shalulile, who were rested midweek. 

In his starting line-up, Mokwena sprang a few surprises as he put influential midfielders Zwane, Thembinkosi Lorch, Aubrey Modiba and Thapelo Morena on the bench. 

It is also worth noting that Williams, Mudau, Mvala, Zwane and Shalulile are the only players who started when Sundowns drew 2-2 with Wydad Casablanca in the semifinal last year where they were knocked out of the competition on away goals. 

Other survivors from the 2-2 draw with Wydad are Modiba, Kekana, Mosa Lebusa, Bongani Zungu and Denis Onyango who started this match on the bench. 

After the lengthy rain-enforced break, Mokwena was forced to make a change when Thapelo Maseko was stretchered off the field and replaced by Thapelo Morena shortly before the hour mark. 

Notable chances of the first half fell for Shalulile but he was twice denied by alert Esperance goalkeeper Amenallah Memmiche who produced stunning acrobatic saves. 

Esperance scored the all-important away goal after 57 minutes through substitute attacker Bouchniba who, after having been on the field only for a few minutes, beat Williams from close range.