Raja first qualifiers for CAF Champions League last eight
Walid Sabbar scored his first CAF Champions League goals as Moroccan club Raja Casablanca became the first qualifiers for the quarter-finals with a 3-1 win over Guinean outfit Horoya on Tuesday.
Sabbar notched a brace and Mohamed Nahiri also scored as the three-time African champions maintained a perfect Group C record with a fourth straight victory.
Raja have 12 points with two group games remaining, and a six-point lead over second-placed Simba of Tanzania, who edged Vipers of Uganda 1-0 in an east African showdown.
Simba have six points, Horoya four and Vipers one with all three still in contention for the other ticket to the knockout phase of the premier African club competition.
Forced to play in Bamako, the capital of neighbouring Mali, because they do not have an international-standard ground, Horoya were behind after only six minutes when Sabbar struck.
It got much worse for the Guineans when goalkeeper Moussa Camara was sent off for handling outside the box, and Nahiri scored later.
Raja, who last won the Champions League in 1999, were also reduced to 10 men with Jamal Harkass red-carded before half-time.
Sabbar netted again before Pape N'Diaye scored a consolation goal for Horoya. It was the first time Raja conceded in six Champions League group and qualifying matches this season.
Raja, whose arch Casablanca rivals Wydad won the 2022 Champions League, squandered a late opportunity to win even more convincingly when Mohamed Zrida missed a penalty.
The goal that lifted Simba above Horoya in the standings was an all-Zambian affair with Moses Phiri setting up Clatous Chama to net in first half added time in Dar es Salaam.
Five-time African champions Zamalek of Egypt put a disastrous start in Group D behind them by ending the perfect record of leaders Esperance of Tunisia with a 3-1 triumph in Cairo.
Zamalek star Zizo converted a penalty between creating goals for Seif Gaafar and Seifeddine Jaziri while Riad Benayad scored for Esperance, who trailed 2-0 at half-time.
Esperance have nine points, three more than Chabab Belouizdad of Algeria, who edged Al Merrikh of Sudan 1-0 with a Mohamed Belkhir goal in Algiers. Zamalek and Merrikh have four points each.
Al Hilal of Sudan replaced Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa as Group A leaders with goals from David Abagna and Makabi Lilepo delivering a 2-0 win over Cameroon's Coton Sport in Omdurman.
Hilal have nine points, Sundowns seven, record 10-time African champions Al Ahly of Egypt four and Coton are pointless and out of contention for a last-eight place.
Sundowns host Ahly on Saturday in a crucial rearranged match. Should the Egyptians lose, they will be in danger of not making it past the group stage for the first time since 2016.
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