Esperance de Tunis retained their Africa Champions League title after their opponents, Wydad Casablanca walked off in protest at a disallowed goal that was not referred to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).
The Blood and Gold were leading 1-0 through a first-half goal that was netted by Youcef Bilali when trouble started after Wydad’s equalizer was disallowed in the 59th minute of second leg clash played at Stade de Tunis on Saturday morning.
Midfielder Walid El Karti had his header into the back of the net but his effort was ruled out by Gambian referee Bakary Gassama due to an infringement in the build-up.
Television replays showed that El Karti was clearly onside but the referee chose not to use video assistance to review the goal leading to Wydad walking off the pitch and refusing to return.
Esperance went to the return leg with an away goal advantage after holding Wydad to a 1-1 draw in first leg match played last weekend in Casablanca.
The visitors dominated the early exchanges in Tunis, with the Blood and Gold happy to sit back and soak up all the pressure, leaving it up to the Moroccans to push forward in search of a way back into the tie.
Ahmed Tagnaouti was a mere spectator as the home side launched wave-after-wave of attack in search of the game’s opener, but Esperance were proving a difficult unit to break down.
Aymane Hassouni missed a golden chance for a 15th-minute lead after Badie Aouk failed to profit from the box.
Esperance started pushing forward later on and their efforts were finally paid off on 41st minute after Youcef Belaili capitalized on a through ball to find the back of the net.
Wydad pushed for a comeback and thought they had equalized a minute to an hour mark when Ismail El Haddad had the ball at the back of the net.
The Morrocans pushed for VAR review as Confederation of African Football officials consulted with the referee with no one prepared to take a decision about whether to continue with the game.
CAF president Ahmad Ahmad was forced to come down from pavilion to try and negotiate with match officials in a game that was halted for around 90 minutes.
It was later reported that the VAR could not be used due to technical issues leaving referee Gassama with no other option blow the final whistle as Wydad refused to come out of changing rooms.
In the end, Esperance won 2-1 on aggregate to claim their fourth continental championship in club history.
How they lined up
Esperance: Rami Jeridi, Sameh Derbali, Mohamed Yaakoubi, Khalil Chemmam, Ayman Ben Mohamed, Fousseny Coulibaly, Franck Kom, Anice Badri, Saad Bguir, Youcef Belaili (Hamdou El Houni 61), Yassine Khenissi
Wydad: Reda Tagnaouti, Abdellatif Noussir, Mohammed Nahiri, Cheick Comara, Ayoub El Amloud, Ismail El Haddad, Salaheddine Saidi, Yahya Jabrane, Badie Aouk, Walid El Karti, Aymane El Hassouni
