Wydad Casablanca captain Yahya Jabrane has lifted the lid on how much of a challenge it was to beat competition favourites Mamelodi Sundowns in the CAF Champions League en route to the final.
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All tournament long, Masandawana were labelled as favourites to lift Africa's premier club competition. Victories against La Passe, Al Hilal Omdurman, Coton Sport, Al Ahly and CR Belouizdad set up a semi-final encounter with the reigning champions of the competition for Rhulani Mokwena's men.
The DSTV Premiership champions were heavily favoured to progress to the final, especially given that the Moroccan giants have endured a tumultuous 2022/23 campaign, with three different managers having taken charge of the Red Castle at various points in the season.
The appointment of their most recent head coach, Sven Vandenbroeck, came a week before they were set to face the South African outfit and while they came into the final four encounter as underdogs, the record Botola Pro champions managed to progress to a second successive final.
A 2-2 draw in the second leg at Loftus Versfeld saw the north African side come out victorious, a tie Wydad's captain has since labelled a "life or death" match.
"The game was hard against a strong team, the team everyone was nominating as favourites to reach the final," Jabrane said of that second leg, as per CAF TV.
"The second leg was a life or death game, we didn't have any other choice to win… but when they scored first, we believed the game was still in our hands, that we could still do it.
"The players' determination and their will to win increased, the timing of their second goal was hard for us… but thank God we passed through situations like this before.
"Our players' characters and the persona of the team made the difference and helped us to tie the game and reach the final.
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"The goal of Ayoub El Amloud against Sundowns that helped us qualify, for me it's the best goal of the season."
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