Brayan Leon of Mamelodi Sundowns celebrates goal with teammates during the CAF Champions League 2025/26 1st leg match between Esperance and Mamelodi Sundowns at Stade Olympique de Rades in Rades, Tunisia on the 12 April 2026 ©Mehrez Toujani/BackpagePix
Sunday Apr 12, 2026. 23:06
Mamelodi Sundowns claimed a clutch 1-0 away win over Esperance de Tunis in the first leg of the teams’ CAF Champions League semifinal tie, played at the Hammadi Agrebi Stadium on Sunday night.
The Brazilians triumphed in the first-leg of their semifinal tie thanks to a goal early in the second half from Brayan Leon, though they had to survive several scares from the Blood and Gold, and ended the game with 10 men after a late red card for Grant Kekana.
Esperance enjoyed dominance and control from relatively early in the game, though it took a while for them to create genuine scoring chances, the first of which arrived in the 33rd minute and saw Florian Danho power a volley onto the crossbar.
A few minutes later the French forward looked set to score after running in behind the Sundowns defence, but Kekana defused the danger with a brilliant recovery tackle.
The subsequent corner saw Esperance’s Mohamed Amine Tougai power a header on target, but he was denied by a great save from goalkeeper Ronwen Williams, before Brayan Leon cleared the loose ball from under his own crossbar.
Sundowns’ only chance of the first half was in the 28th minute when a loose ball fell kindly for Arthur Sales, but his low drive from the edge of the box was deflected wide of the target.
The Brazilians were the first to threaten after the break, with a left-flank cross allowing Leon to head on goal with a diving effort, but Esperance goalkeeper Bechir Ben Said made a sharp save to his left.
However, in the 51st minute Sundowns silenced the home crowd with a brilliant team goal – a lofted diagonal pass from Jayden Adams to the right of the penalty area picked out the run of Thapelo Morena, who volleyed a perfectly-weighted cross to find Leon, and the Colombian headed home from close range for 1-0.
The Blood and Gold thought they had levelled the game in the 65th minute. A free kick into the box saw Williams collide in mid-air with Sales, and Danho sliced a cross that was headed home on the goal line by substitute Aboubacar Diakite.
However, a VAR review revealed that Williams had also taken an elbow to the head from Hamza Jelassi, leading to the goal being retracted by referee Mustapha Ghorbal – much to the anger of the home supporters.
With five minutes of regulation time remaining, Sundowns were reduced to 10 men when Kekana was shown a straight red card for a high-foot challenge which caught an opponent in the face.
The return leg is scheduled for the Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Saturday 18 April. The aggregate winners will advance to the final to face either ASFAR or RS Berkane.
Esperance de Tunis 0
Mamelodi Sundowns (0) 1 (Leon 51’)
Esperance: Ben Said, Keita, Jelassi, Tougai, Ben Hamida, Ogbelu, Konate (Jabri 90+1’), Tka (Hadjali 81’), Boualia (Diakite 63’), Yan Sasse (Diarra 63’), Danho
Sundowns: Williams, Mudau, Cupido, Kekana, Lunga, Allende (Aubaas 76’), Mokoena, Adams, Morena (Mdunyelwa 88’), Sales (Matthews 73’), Leon (Ndamane 88’)