Moroccan side Raja Casablanca overcame AS Vita Club 3-0 in the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup final first-leg match at the Stade Mohammed V in Morocco on Sunday, November 25.
After a goalless first half, highly-rated youngster Soufiane Rahimi opened the scoring for Raja, capitalizing on a slight lapse of concentration by the Vita defence.
He doubled the lead in the 61st minute with a powerful low shot as they continued to dominate.Â
AS Vita suffered a huge blow as defender Bangala Yannick was sent off for a second bookable offence, the last one a push on Zakaria Hadraf in the box. This resulted in a penalty in the 65th minute and Mahmoud Benhalib stepped up and calmly made it 3-0.
The Black Dolphins then suffered a big a blow as their star striker Jean-Marc Makusu Mundele went down injured as the half-hour mark approached.
The marksman, who has scored 10 goals in this year’s Confederation Cup, was replaced by fellow striker Emomo Eddy Ngoyi.
The hosts piled pressure on the Vita defence, but they were very wasteful as the likes of Benhalib and Rahimi continued to miss the target.
Raja will now take on As Vita in the second-leg clash in Kinshasa on Sunday, December 2 at the Stade des Martyrs de la Pentecôte in Kinshasa.Â
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SquadsÂ
Raja XI:Â Zniti, Boutayeb, Al-Warfali, Benoun, Achchakir, Niasse, Mabidi, Hadraf, Hafidi, Rahimi and Benhalib.
Vita XI:Â Lukong, Shabani, Makwekwe, Litombo, Ngonda, Tonombe, Munganga, Ngoma, Batezadio, Mundele and Lukombe.
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