Ugandan champions Vipers SC has beaten Congolese giants TP Mazembe to qualify for their first CAF Champions league group stages.
The Kitende based side become the first Ugandan team to qualify for the Total Energies Inter-club competitions group stages since 2018 when KCCA FC played at the group stages
In a tight game played at Lubumbashi Congo, Vipers SC has eliminated the 5- time champions TP Mazembe by 4-2 via penalties after 0-0 scores over 180 minutes. The first leg ended in a goalless draw at St. Mary’s stadium Kitende last week. The Venoms hasn’t conceded a goal in all 5 matches this season.
Without their first goal keeper and Mali’s first choice goalkeeper who is off for three weeks after getting injured in the first leg, TP Mazembe have faced the same scenario they faced last year when they were eventually eliminated at this stage by South Africa’s AmaZulu on away goals rule after drawing 0-0 in South Africa and 1-1 in Lubumbashi.
The team have so far lost 2 games in their last 84 CAF games after the loss incurred last against Mamelodi Sundowns in a game that ended 2-1 defeat to Sundowns.
Mazembe also had a long standing 74 home unbeaten record in CAF Inter-club competitions stretching from 2010 which has today been put to an end by the Venoms.
After this game Vipers has become the fifth club to join the group stages after the four teams Mamelodi Sundowns, Zamalek SC, Petro Atletico de Luanda and Algerian champions CR Belouizdad that had qualified earlier.
