Jhonier Blanco's second half penalty was enough to hand Azam FC a 1-0 win over APR in the first leg of the preliminary round of the 2024/25 CAF Champions League qualifiers. The game that took place at Azam Sports Complex on Sunday, August 18 saw APR's head coach Darko Novic make significant changes to his starting XI, giving Lamine Bah, Richmond Lamptey and Mamadou Sy starting berths. Azam fielded a traditional 4-4-2 formation, with a compact midfield of Adolf Mtasingwa, Franck Tiesse, James Akaminko and Feisal Abdalla. APR dominated possession in the early minutes and created some good goal scoring opportunities, one of which came in the seventh minute, forcing Azam's goalkeeper Mohammed Mustafa to pull off a great save after an emphatic shot by Lamptey. It took a while for Azam to come into the game as they found a difficult time to deal with APR's solid midfield of Yussif Dauda and Bosco Ruboneka. The Tanzanian team had its first chance in the 20th minute as Gibril Sillah combined with Feisal Abdalla before the former broke loose through the middle. An excellent piece of defending from Clement Niyigena stopped him from scoring. After the 30th minute mark, APR mostly sat back, soaked the pressure and tried to catch Azam on the break. In the second half, Azam came into the game stronger as they made incursions into the vital area of APR's half. Their efforts were rewarded in the 55th minute as they were given a penalty following an infringement on their player inside APR's penalty box. Blanco stepped up and easily dispatched the spot kick to give Azam a 1-0 lead. After the goal, both teams saw much of the ball but failed to utilise the chances which came their way. With 10 minutes to the end of the game, Novic brought on Godwin Odibo and Victor Mbaoma for Richmond Lamptey and Mamadou Sy respectively as APR continued to search for the equalizer. After the 90th minute mark, six additional minutes were given by the referee, but Azam held on to the 1-0 lead until the end. APR will host Azam FC in Kigali in the second leg on Saturday, August 24.
