The Amahoro Stadium in Kigali witnessed a fierce contest between two sides who were eager to get off to a winning start to the new campaign. Sudanese side Al-Hilal played their games in Mauritania last season and chose Rwanda as their new home for the new season. Led by Romanian head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf, Hilal made a winning start by beating Algerian side MC Alger in a tense affair.
After both sides failed to have any shot on target, the game sprang into life when the 32-year-old Sudanese midfielder Abdelrazig Omer opened the scoring on the stroke of halftime. Ghanaian referee Charles Bulu minute before the opener, had failed to spot a foul against the Algerians where Ferhat intentionally flicked a corner kick with his hand like Maradona did against England in the 1986 FIFA World Cup. The Sudanes entourage all shouted penalty, but only VAR, which was missing, could have spotted the incident.
An own goal from Karshom in the 53rd minute levelled the scores for MC Alger.
Substitute Mohamed Abdelrahman, 32, replaced Omer Abdelrazig in the 74th minute. Less than a minute on the pitch, he calmly slotted the ball after a decent job on the right-hand side resulted in a cut back. Abdelrahman’s first touch gave Al-Hilal a 2-1 lead.
Adil Salahedine was shown the red card after a rough challenge in the 87th minute. The 10-man Al-Hilal defended deep and handed the Algerians a rare defeat.
MC Alger suffered their first defeat since Olympique Akbou defeated them 1-0 in round 21 of the Algerian Ligue on 15th April 2025. The first defeat under South Africa’s young manager Rulani Mokwena, for MC Alger, shows that they have a lot of work to do if they are to make amends in the campaign.
Saturday’s fixtures
Mamelodi Sundowns v St Eloi Lupopo
Young Africans v FAR Rabat
Al Ahly v JS Kabylie
Esperance Tunis v Stade Malien
RS Berkane v Power Dynamos
Pyramids v Rivers United
Sunday
Simba SC v Petro Atletico
