Penalty kick specialist Faruk Ben Mustapha pulled another heroic display as he saved three penalties to help Esperance beat CR Belouizdad of Algeria, 3-2 on penalties, to reach the Champions League semi-finals.
The Tunisian giants had to fight back from a two-goal down in their first leg to claim a 2-0 home win courtesy to goals from Raouf Benguit in the 68th minute and Mohamed Ali Ben Romdhane in the 87th minute.
Ben Mustapha came in the 82nd minute, replacing starting keeper Moez Ben Cherifia while the score was still 1-0. He proved to be the winning card as he blocked three penalties for his team to give them a 3-2 win in the shootout.
Esperance have set a semi-final showdown against Ahly who beat South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns 3-1 on aggregate.
Walid Al-Karti scored an injury time winner (1-0) for Wydad Casablanca of Morocco, against MC Alger of Algeria, to fire his side into the semis following their 1-1 away draw last week.
Wydad – who reached the semi finals for the third time in a row – will face South African giants Kaizer Chiefs who survived a scare in Tanzania as they lost 3-0 to Simba then to reach the semis on a 4-3 aggregate win.
