ALGIERS (Reuters) -Morocco’s Renaissance Berkane qualified for a fifth appearance in the African Confederation Cup final with a 4-1 aggregate victory despite losing the second leg of their semi-final tie in neighbouring Algeria on Sunday.
Berkane will take on Tanzania’s Simba in the two-legged final next month after the Dar-es-Salaam club held out for a goalless draw earlier on Sunday in South Africa to pip Stellenbosch 1-0 on aggregate.
Berkane, winners of the competition in 2020 and 2022 and runners-up in 2019 and last season, lost 1-0 away at CS Constantine but had a comfortable 4-0 cushion from the first leg.
Abennour Belhocini scored the only goal of the second leg two minutes into the second half in Constantine, but the home team never looked capable of reducing the considerable aggregate deficit.
Berkane were crowned Moroccan champions for the first time last month and had not lost in 11 previous matches in this year’s Confederation Cup.
They will host the first leg of the final on May 17 against Simba, who defended stoutly in Durban against their hosts.
Stellenbosch, forced to move their home game some 1,600km because there was no suitable ground available in the Western Cape province, had the ball in the net in the second leg but a marginal offside call against their New Zealand international Andre de Jong saw the strike ruled out by VAR.
The second leg of the final will be played in Dar-es-Salaam on May 25 where Simba will attempt to become the first Tanzanian club to win a continental club title.
Their only previous final appearance was in 1993 when they finished runners-up to Stella Abidjan of the Ivory Coast in the now defunct Confederation of African Football Cup.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town)
