ESPERANCE still harbour hopes of winning the African Champions League, despite a 5-0 deficit to TP Mazembe going into the second leg of the final.

"We have not lost hope, because in football nothing is impossible,” the Tunisian side’s Nigerian striker Michael Eneramo said.

The game will be played this evening in Rades, near Tunis.
Mazembe, from DRC, are favourites to retain their continental title and qualify for the Fifa Club World Cup.
If Esperance are to overturn the odds, they will have to look to Eneramo, who has scored nine goals in the competition so far.

"Who says we cannot score five, six goals at home on Saturday? Team spirit is very high as we all have confidence in ourselves,” Eneramo said.

That confidence also seems to be retained by the team’s fans, who have been very supportive, despite the disappointment of the heavy defeat in the first leg, according to Esperance coach Faouzi Benzarti.

"We have opened our training sessions before the match to the public and they were free to choose to come and support us or not - and they proved their loyalty by appearing at training and supporting us,” the coach said.

The winners of the title will earn prize money of $1.5 million and will face Mexican outfit Pachuca on December 12 in the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi.

Agencies