Tunisia Ligue 1: Espérance thrash AS Soliman

Espérance de Tunis (EST) returned to league action on Tuesday with a 3-0 victory over AS Soliman following a two-week hiatus to attend to CAF Champions League duties.

It was a swift victory with little hope for the hosts, who found themselves down 0-3 by halftime against the reigning champions.

EST did enough to secure passage to the CAF Champions League quarterfinals with a 2-0 home victory over Petro de Luanda on Saturday but the demands of domestic football will be heavy for the next week. Tuesday’s victory was the Blood and Gold’s first of three matches in eight days with a difficult test against Stade Tunisien coming up on Saturday.

But for now the club’s supporters will be satisfied with the attacking effort. French striker Florian Danho scored his first goal since early October with a 15th minute header from Moez Haj Ali’s free kick service.

The powerful forward then set up in form attacker Kouceila Boualia to fire in the second goal shortly after a half hour was gone. Left back and team leader Mohamed Ben Hamida finished the scoring from the penalty spot in first half stoppage time.

Espérance remain two points behind league leaders Club Africain but still have two games to make up on their rivals. They will clash with third place Stade Tunisien on Saturday before facing ES Metlaoui next Wednesday. Earlier today, EST learned that they will clash with Egyptian giants Al Ahly in the Champions League quarterfinals with the first leg scheduled in Tunis for March 13.

 

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Updated league table after Espérance’s victory