Wydad Casablanca of Morocco and Esperance of Tunisia played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg of CAF Champions League final played at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on Friday.
Wydad Casablanca who won the competition back in 2017 were hoping to claim a comfortable result ahead of the return leg in Tunisia but it was the defending Champions who left Rabat with a well deserved away goal.
Nigerian striker Junior Lokosa led the line for Esperance but it was Ivorian born Fousseny Coulibaly who opened the scoring for the visitors with a minute left before half time break.
Four minutes after the resumption, Wydad was reduced to ten men as their Moroccan skipper Brahim Nekkach was sent off after picking his second yellow card of the game.
The home side, however, fought back to draw level with eleven minutes left on the clock, it was another Ivorian Cheik Comora who scored the equaliser.
Michael Babatunde and Junior Lokosa were both replaced in the game for Wydad and Esperance respectively, while another Nigerian on the payroll of Wydad Casablanca Gabriel Okechukwu was on the bench for 90 minutes.
