Zniti heroics sends Raja Casablanca into CAF Confederation Cup final

Anas Zniti saved a penalty kick in sudden death as Raja Club Athletic beat last year’s finalists Pyramids 5-4 aggregate after post-match penalty kicks on Sunday in Casablanca

They consequently sailed into the final of the 2020/2021 CAF Confederation Cup Competition.

Zniti’s trailing foot stuck out to block Hamdi Mohamed’s penalty kick as the Moroccan side progressed to the final, where they will face Algerian outfit JS Kabylie.

The game was forced to penalty kicks after a second successive barren stalemate, the two sides having also played to a 0-0 draw in the first leg in Cairo last week.

It had to take eight penalty kicks each side before a winner was picked out in the tense encounter at the Stade Mohamed V.

Scores were tied at 3-3 after the first five penalties.

Soufiane Rahimi and Said Abdallah had scored the first two for either side, before Ben Malango missed for the Moroccans.

However, his blushes were wiped when Ramadhan Sobhi also missed for Pyramids, keeping the scores at 1-1.

While it looked like a relief for Raja, Said Al Wardfali could not take advantage of the new lease of life as he also saw his penalty kick missed.

At the other end, Wadi Mahmoud scored his penalty kick as Pyramids went a nose up 2-1.

Zakaria El Wardi returned Raja back to the table scoring their fourth kick but Ahmed Samy took Pyramids back up in the lead.

Mahmoud Benhalib scored his penalty kick to tie the scores back at 3-3 with Raja’s final kick and it was now up to Pyramids to score their fifth and put the game to bed.

However, substitute Mohamed Farouk stepped up and missed his kick, sending the entire Raja side into celebration.

With scores tied at 3-3 after the first five penalty kicks each side, the game now went to sudden death.

Azrida Mohamed for Raja and Osama Galal for Pyramids both scored as the game tied at 4-4.

For the seventh kick, Fabrice Ngoma stepped up for Raja and saw his timid kick saved by the goalkeeper to give Pyramids the advantage.

Up stepped Ahmed Tawfik to take what would have been the winning penalty kick, but the substitute sent it wildly over, once again Raja breathing a collective sigh of relief.

Abdelilah Madkour stepped up to score Raja’s eighth penalty kick of the game, earning the Moroccans a 5-4 advantage.

Pressure was now on Pyramids to keep up and up stepped Hamdi.

However, the Pyramids man chose to go straight down the middle.

Zniti’s feet stuck out to keep out the penalty kick and hand Raja the victory and a place in the final.

In regulation time, both sides had chances to score and win, with Raja coming closest with a Malango header that came off the upright.