Real de Banjul waves goodbye to Champions League

Real de Banjul exit Champions League despite winning at home

Gambia’s CAF Champions League representatives Real de Banjul are out of the competition despite winning 2-1 at home in the second leg of the preliminary round qualifiers against FUS de Rabat of Morocco on Saturday.

Coming into yesterday’s game, FUS de Rabat held a 1-0 advantage from the first leg, with Mourad Batna’s late penalty goal handing the Moroccans a home victory at the 52,000 capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in mid-February and they knew a goal at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, will make it a mountain to climb for the City Boys.

The first period ended in a goalless draw but Real de Banjul opened the scoring in the 60th minute of the second half through Captain Baboucarr Savage’s freekick after Yusupha Njie was brought down in the FUS half.

But it didn’t take long for the visitors to level through their Cameroonian midfielder André Ndamé Ndamé in the 65th minute after a goalmouth scramble in the Real area.

Baboucarr Savage extended Real’s lead with ten minutes to go after nodding in a corner kick but it wasn’t enough, as the Gambian champions bowed out to the 2010 CAF Confederation Cup winners.

FUS de Rabat will now take on Cameroon Premiere Division champions Union Sportive de Douala or Liberian Premier League winners, Liberia Ship Corporate Registry FC in the first round of the qualifiers later in March.

Meanwhile, Gambian FA Cup Champions, Gamtel, won 3-1 in Senegal in their Confederation Cup tie against ASC HLM.

They face the two-time CAF Confederation Cup champions Club Sportif Sfaxien next in the first round of the qualifiers, with the first leg schedule for the weekend of 15-17 March at the 30,000-capacity Stade Taïeb Mhiri stadium in Sfax.