Wydad Casablanca’s substitute goalkeeper, Youssef el Motie, played a crucial role in their narrow qualification to the semi-finals of the CAF Champions League. The title-holders secured their place in the next round with a 4-3 victory on penalties against Simba of Tanzania.
Wydad Athletic Club of Morocco advanced to the semi-finals of the African Champions League after beating Simba SC in a quarter-final second leg match. The game was played in front of a sold-out crowd of 45,000 fans at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca.
Bouly Sambou scored the only goal of the match in the 24th minute to level the aggregate score at 1-1, after Simba had won the first leg 1-0 last weekend. Wydad won the penalty shootout 4-2, with goalkeeper Ahmed El Motie making two crucial saves.
This is Wydad’s seventh appearance in the semi-finals since 2016, which is a remarkable record of consistency. They will face either Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa or Chabab Belouizdad of Algeria in the semi-finals in May, with Sundowns likely to be their opponents. A match between Wydad and Sundowns would rekindle one of the great Champions League rivalries of the modern era.
In the match, Wydad forced two corners in quick succession midway through the first half, and the only goal of the match came from the second set-piece when Sambou nodded weakly goalward and the Simba goalkeeper failed to stop the ball from landing in the corner of the net.
Wydad wasted a great chance to go two goals ahead early in the second half when Ayman el Hassouni swept a cross over. The VAR officials cancelled a Wydad goal as El Hassouni was offside and rejected another penalty appeal by the hosts.
Simba were awarded a free-kick in front of goal midway through the second half, but Sambou deflected the kick at the expense of a corner. Neither side came close to scoring as full-time approached, with substitute Zouhair al Moutaraji, the two-goal star of the 2022 final, among those unable to break the deadlock.
Below is a video of Wydad players and officials after their qualified