Al Ahly of Egypt take a 3-1 lead over Esperance of Tunisia to the CAF Champions League final second leg Friday against a backdrop of a tarnished African club football image.
The first leg in Alexandria last weekend was marred by two controversial VAR (video assistant referee) penalties for Ahly, with Walid Soliman converting both.
Furious Esperance players and coaches accused Ahly striker Walid Azaro of diving to win the first spot-kick and of feigning injury and tearing his shirt for the second.
The Tunisians accused the Algerian referee of bias and the Egyptians of pre-match dirty tricks, including delaying their arrival at the stadium and police harassment.
African governing body CAF banned Azaro for two matches, but rejected an Esperance plea for the first-leg yellow cards of Chamseddine Dhaouadi and Franck Kom to be cancelled.
The Champions League final drama came just a week after two CAF semi-finals matches also shamed African club football.
Esperance defeated Angolan visitors Primeiro Agosto 4-2 in Rades to reach the final after 51 police and spectators were injured in clashes and 12 arrests made.
Spectators flung stones, police fired teargas and as smoke from flares drifted across the pitch, visibility became difficult for a period of the second half.
Serbia-born Primeiro coach Zoran Manojlovic said the situation was akin to a “horror movie”, but CAF took no action.
A day later, Al Masry of Egypt walked off the pitch to protest a goal scored by V Club of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the second-tier CAF Confederation Cup in Kinshasa.
They claimed a goal that put the hosts three goals ahead was offside, but big-screen replays proved that the Seychellois match officials made the correct call.
