Route to the quarters

Kaizer Chiefs reached the knockout stages having finished second in Group C with nine points from their six matches. Having started off with a poor 0-0 draw at home with Horoya, they were then beaten 4-0 by Wydad Casablanca in a match played in Burkina Faso. That left them with a mountain to climb with four matches left. A 2-0 home victory against Petro de Luanda followed as Erick Mathoho and Happy Mashiane scored. Amakhosi then travelled to Angola but could only draw 0-0. Gavin Hunt then enjoyed some significant fortune as Wydad decided to rest most of their best players and even left their coach at home for the away match in Nasrec. Despite seeing Daniel Akpeyi sent off after 40 minutes, Chiefs were still able to beat the second-stringers 1-0 through Bernard Parker’s first goal in two years. Samir Nurkovic was sent off in the dying stages, meaning both he and Akpeyi missed the sixth match away at Horoya. The Soweto giants needed a draw to progress and they twice came back from behind to get it as Daniel Cardoso scored a penalty and Khama Billiat netted a crucial goal to make it 2-2.

Simba had a far more convincing group stage. They drew holders Al Ahly but ended up finishing top of the group ahead of Pitso Mosimane’s team. A 1-0 win away at AS Vita Club in the DRC got them off to a flyer as striker Mutshimba Mugalu scored a penalty. They then made it six points from two matches with a home win against Al Ahly. Mosimane was not happy at full time with the conditions in Tanzania or the fact that supporters were allowed to pack out the stadium. Luis Miquissone scored the only goal of the game.Simba then drew 0-0 at Al Merreikh before thumping the same opposition 3-0 at home. A 4-1 thrashing of AS Vita Club followed to secure top spot in the group with a match to spare. Although they lost away to Al Ahly in their final group match, that was a dead rubber as both sides had secured passage to the quarter-finals. Simba are appearing in their third CAF Champions League quarterfinal having made the last eight most recently in 2018/19. They’ve never made it to the semi-finals.