RWANDA’s representatives at this year’s Orange Champions League, APR left for Kinshasa yesterday, three days before their crunch return leg against the competition’s defending champions TP Mazembe.

The military side, who departed aboard Ethiopian airways where expected to spend a night at Addis Ababa before connecting to Kinshasa this morning.

Before the team’s departure, Coach Erik Paske expressed optimism about the club’s chances of reaching the next round.

"Morale in the team is high and the players are fit and raring to go so there is no reason why I should not be confident,” the Dutch tactician said.

On paper, APR have one leg into the next round following their shocking 1-0 win in the first leg, which was held in Kigali just over ten days ago.

"We have the upper hand but we expect them to push from the first minute so we have to be very alert,” he warned.

While a draw would do for APR, Mazembe, who have won the competition three times, need to win by at least two goals to progress to the next round.

The match will be played at Stade des Martyrs.
This year, champions will receive $1,500,000 while the losing finalists will settle for $1,000,000.

Semi-finalists will pocket $700,000 while the third and fourth sides in the group will pocket $500,000 and $400,000 respectively.

Ends