Enyimba International striker, Chijioke Mbaoma is confident that the 2022/23 NPFL champions can overcome the first leg deficit in the 2023/24 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League following the 4-3 loss to Al Ahly Benghazi.
The two-time champions were defeated 4-3 by Libyan club Ahli Benghazi in a highly entraining match at the Martyrs of February Stadium in Benghazi. The People’s Elephant held on until almost the end but were undone by Hamadi Gadallah’s stoppage-time goal which handed Ahly a slender first-leg advantage.
Following the loss, Chijioke Mbaoma summed up his emotions following Enyimba’s heartbreaking loss to Al Ahly Benghazi on Sunday night as ‘very sad, but proud’.
“Our plan in this game was to get a positive result,” the forward said to the club’s official website.
“We made some mistakes at the back but pushed them until the very last minute and deserved a draw at least, but they scored and that is painful. It’s a very sad result for me personally but I am also proud of what we did here.”
“North Africa is a tough region and in matches like this their fans make the atmosphere very intimidating, but we stuck to our game plan and who knows, might have won outrightly had we converted most of our chances.”
“We are not satisfied but we need to be happy with ourselves and look forward to the next leg. They have played and won at home, now it’s time for us to go home and play with our fans and show them what we too can do.”
Mbaoma conceded the second leg would be explosive but remained optimistic he and his teammates would do enough to emerge winners and qualify for the next round.
In Ghana, Medeama Sporting Club’s Jonathan Sowah scored in the 22nd to secure a narrow 1-0 victory over Nigeria’s Remo Stars, who will be hoping to reverse the slim advantage a week from now in the return leg.
The return leg of the first preliminary round of the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League takes place next weekend, with the kick-off times and venues to be announced in due course.
