The battle for the 2022-23 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League title intensifies this weekend, with two hotly contested first leg semi-final fixtures expected.

Esperance will play host to record champions Al Ahly in Rades while defending champions Wydad Athletic Club will take on South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns at their Stade Mohamed V Complex backyard in Casablanca.

Esperance v Al Ahly

This will be the 18th meeting between these two North African giants in continental football. Their last meeting was at this same stage of the competition in the 2020-21 season, with the Egyptian giants winning 4-0 on aggregate. They won the first leg 1-0 in Rades, and finished off with a 3-0 victory in the return fixture in Cairo.

Overall, in their 18 meetings, Ahly have the upper hand having won 10 of those ties and losing four, with the rest ending in draws.

Esperance’s last victory against Ahly was in the 2018 season when they won 3-0 in the return leg of the final, a result that helped them clinch the title.

Of the 10 victories they have had against Esperance, five have been away from home. At the same time, all their four defeats against Taraji have been in Tunisia.

Heading into the match on Friday night, Esperance come in off back to back victories, having beaten Etoile du Sahel 1-0 in the league and their last match being a similar victory against Algeria’s JS Kabylie in the quarter finals of the Champions League.

Ahly are on a run of five unbeaten matches, and their last three straight victories have seen them keep consecutive clean sheets. They beat Raja Club Athletic 2-0 in the quarter finals of the Champions League and have collected back to back victories in the Egyptian Premier League before Friday night’s match.

Wydad Athletic Club vs Mamelodi Sundowns

Wydad managed to squeeze into the semi-finals after needing penalties to overcome Tanzania’s Simba SC following a 1-1 aggregate draw. They come up against a Sundowns side that has been flawless this season, and made it to the last four after a 6-2 resounding victory over Algeria’s CR Belouizdad.

These two sides have met 10 times before, and ties between them have been closely contested. Wydad has won four of the 10 matches, Sundowns winning three while the rest ended in draws.

Their last meeting was in the group stages of the 2019-20 season, when Sundowns won 1-0 at home, having drawn 0-0 in Casablanca.

Of the three victories against Wydad, none has come in Casablanca, and the best was a draw in the group stages of the 2019-20 season. They have lost four of the last five matches they have played in North Africa. They have scored only once in Casablanca, while conceding five.

However, Sundowns expect to paint a different picture when they play on Saturday evening, having shown a different class this season with their performances and are unbeaten thus far in the competition.