CAF CL: Ten-man Al Hilal hold Sundowns in Pretoria

Mamelodi Sundowns were forced to settle for a frustrating 2-2 draw against Al-Hilal Omdurman in their CAF Champions' League Group C encounter, despite dominating large spells of the match at Loftus Versfeld Stadium on Friday evening. The Sundowns went into the game as overwhelming favourites and showed their attacking intent from the onset, but it was the visitors who struck first against the run of play. Abdel Raouf stunned the home crowd in the 15th minute when he finished clinically to give Al-Hilal an early lead. Sundowns responded in the manner of champions and were back on level terms just seven minutes later. Arthur Sales made no mistake in the 22nd minute, putting the ball at the back of the net after a fine assist from Nuno Santos to restore parity. The hosts continued to control possession and tempo, probing for a breakthrough, but had to wait until the second half to get their reward. In the 64th minute, Teboho Mokoena fired Sundowns into the lead with a well-taken strike following a neat assist from Thapelo Matthews, sending the home supporters into celebration and seemingly putting the South Africans on course for all three points. However, Al-Hilal refused to surrender. With just under 20 minutes remaining, Abdel Raouf struck again to complete his brace in the 71st minute, finishing off a move created by Adama Coulibali to silence the stadium and level the scores at 2-2. Despite relentless late pressure from Sundowns, including several half-chances and sustained possession in the final third, the Sudanese side held firm to secure a valuable away point. The result leaves Sundowns ruing missed opportunities on a night they enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and territory, while Al-Hilal will take confidence from a resilient performance and the clinical finishing of their two-goal hero, Abdel Raouf, in what proved to be an entertaining and hard-fought Champions League encounter. The visitors finished the match with 10-men after substitute Emmanuel Flomo was shown a straight red card for an elbow on Mudau with roughly five minutes remaining. Both teams are now on five points after three matches played including their group rematch at Amahoro Stadium in Kigali on January 30, at 21:00 CAT.

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CAF CL: Ten-man Al Hilal hold Sundowns in Pretoria