JS Kabylie edged out Esperance de Tunis 1-0 in a CAF Champions League Group D match played on Saturday 1 February at Stade du 1er Novembre 1954 in Tizi Ouzou.
Rezki Hamroune scored the lone goal in the 56th minute to give the Algerians the lead which they defended till the final whistle and pocketed the three points.
Despite the loss, Esperance end the group stage on top of the standings with the club having amassed 11 points from a possible 18 on offer.
Esperance have joined Raja Casablanca in the quarter-finals having also secured their place in the knockout stages by last weekend.
The Blood and Gold had last tasted defeat in the continent’s most prestigious club competition in the first leg of the 2018 final when they lost 3-1 to Al Ahly in the first leg.
They shockingly overturned the result in the return leg winning 3-0 to lift the African club title.
In the first half, Esperance kicked off with scoring intentions with Kwame Bonsu getting a shot on target in the first minute forcing Kabylie custodian Ousamma Benbot to make an early save that flew for a corner kick.
Esperance continued to pile pressure on Kabylie with another chance coming in the third minute and Benbot had to make another fine save. He stood tall once against to deny Fadaa and Rabbi in quick succession as the Tunisians looked to make their possession count.
The sides were unable to carve out clear chances later but there was a late surge towards the end of the half, with Kabylie bringing the best out of Esperance goalkeeper Jadri.
Yamen Zelfani’s charges came very close to going to the break with the lead as Masoud Juma hit the post with a header from Hamza Banouh’s cross and Hamroune’s follow-up header was cleared off the line.
Kabylie were on the front foot in the early exchanges of the second stanza and they eventually broke the deadlock four minutes to the hour-mark after Hamroune slotted in a beautiful finish.
Moain Chaabani made his first change in the 59th minute after bringing on Ibrahim Quotarra for Youcceff Abdelli while Zelfani introduced Racim Mebarki for Ahmed Ait in a straight swap.
However, the Algerian side managed to weather the storm in the tail end to clinch famous victory, though it was not enough to send them to the quarterfinals as they ended their campaign on the third spot with seven points.
