CAF Champions League: Plateau United earn a comeback win over Esperance 

Plateau United will be taking a slender lead to the reverse fixture of the CAF Champions League following their remarkable 2-1 comeback victory over Esperance of Tunisia on Sunday.

The first leg of the second round clash played at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja lived up to expectations as the Tin City boys were to deal their visitors’ threat in the early parts of the game.

Esperance took the lead with three minutes before the half hour mark when Badri outpaced Chris Nwanze and calmly placed it past Suraj Ayeleso following a brilliant pass from Benayad.

Plateau United captain, Daniel Itodo with his trademark throw-ins became a threat for the visitors as they had to deal with most of it in several moments of the encounter.

That would paid off soon after as one of the throws earned Plateau the equalizer in the 35th minute when Ifeanyi Emmanuel headed home from the throw.

The host would then took full control of the proceedings as they caged Esperance to their half asking series of questions to score again.

The boys of Coach Fidelis Ilechukwu went ahead for the first time in the game in the added minutes of first half. Again, it was from Daniel Itodo’s long throw and it was Mustapha Ibrahim who rises above others to head the Jos based side in front as both sides went into dugout.

The resumption witnessed an exchange of possessions with Plateau having much of them but failed to increase the tally thereby making the return leg a mere formality.

Scoring chances from the likes of Haggai Katoh, Nenrot Silas and Mustapha came begging for the hosts but they fell short of initiatives to make them count and some goalkeeping brilliance from Esperance man in goal.

The reverse return leg will be taking place in Tunis next week as Plateau United will hope to make it out of it with the Sunday’s win in Abuja.